Manila Standard - 2017 August 06 - Sunday

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VOL. XXXI • NO. 173 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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THE RESURGENCE OF ALESSANDRA DE ROSSI

BALLET PHILIPPINES. Members of Ballet Philippines perform during the opening ceremony Saturday of the 50th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum meeting in Manila. AFP

ASEAN DARED: TAKE HARD LINE ON CHINA V IETNAM urged other Southeast Asian nations to take a stronger stand against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, as a tense regional security forum began Saturday with North Korea also under fire over its nuclear program.

Ahead of the launch of the annual gathering of foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Vietnam made a bold play against China with a draft of suggested changes to a planned joint communique.

It set the stage for what was expected to be a fiery few days of diplomacy in Manila, with the top diplomats from China, the United States, Russia and North Korea set to join their Asean and other AsiaPacific counterparts for security talks from Sunday.

The meetings will take place as the United Nations Security Council votes this weekend on a US-drafted resolution to toughen sanctions against North Korea to punish the isolated regime for its missile and nuclear tests.

The United States said it would also seek to build unified pressure on the North at the Manila event— known as the Asean Regional Forum—and Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Pyongyang

would receive a strong message.

But on the South China Sea dispute—one of Asia’s other top powder keg issues—there was far less consensus with Vietnam resisting efforts by the Philippines to placate Beijing, diplomats told AFP. Vietnam on Friday night sought to insert tough language against China in an Asean statement that was scheduled to be released after the Southeast Asian ministers wrapped up their own talks on Saturday.

According to a copy of a draft obtained by AFP, Vietnam lobbied for Asean to express serious concern over “construction” in the sea, in reference to China’s ramped up artificial island building in the disputed waters in recent years.

Vietnam also wanted Asean to insist in the statement that a planned code of conduct for the sea with China be “legally binding,” which Beijing opposes.

The lobbying occurred when the Asean foreign ministers held unscheduled and informal talks late on Friday night.

“The discussions were really hard. Vietnam is on its own to have stronger language on the South China Sea. Cambodia and Philippines are not keen to reflect that,” one diplomat involved in the talks told AFP. China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, including waters approaching the coasts of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

China has in recent years expanded its presence in the sea by building the artificial islands,

which are capable of holding military bases.

Alongside Vietnam, the Philippines used to be the most vocal critic of Beijing’s expansionism.

But, under President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines has sought to downplay the dispute with China in return for billions of dollars in Chinese investments and aid.

China has in recent years also successfully lobbied other Asean nations, particularly Cambodia, to support its diplomatic maneuvering in the dispute.

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THE Foreign Ministers on Saturday strongly urged North Korea to immediately comply fully with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers Meeting, officials of the 10-member bloc also called on Pyongyang, expected to

participate in Asean Regional Forum on Monday, “to contribute to realize” its vision of maintaining lasting peace and stability in the region.

“We, the Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [Asean], reiterate our grave concerns over the escalation of tensions in the North Korean Peninsula,” the Asean Foreign Ministers said in a statement.

They issued the strong message two

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By Joel E. Zurbano SIX minority bloc senators said Saturday they were optimistic the newly-signed law providing free tuition for students enrolled in state universities and colleges will be fully implemented the soonest possible time despite hesitation from government’s economic managers.

The bloc is composed of Senators Franklin Drilon as the minority leader, Francisco Pangilinan, Benigno Paulo Aquino IV, Leila de Lima, Antonio Trillanes IV and Risa Hontiveros.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday signed into law the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017, providing “mandatory P16 billion funding” for free tuitions yearly in SUCs, over the objections of his economic managers, who said it might be too costly for the government.

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'COPS PLANTED EVIDENCE VS PAROJINOG' ASEAN FORUM. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano delivers a speech during the launch Saturday of the 'Asean Institute for Peace and Reconciliation Publication: Symposium on Principles, Mechanisms, and Practices of Peace and Reconciliation Processes' at the 50th Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting in Manila. AFP

NORTH KOREA TOLD TO COMPLY WITH ITS OBLIGATIONS

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

SENATORS UPBEAT ON FREE TUITION

days before the ARF on Monday and a day before the arrival of North Korean Foreign Minister Ro Yong-Ho on Sunday midnight.

The 10 leaders said North Korea’s recent testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles on July 4 and 28, and even the two previous missiles it launched in 2016 resulted an escalation of tension in the region.

“These developments seriously threaten peace, security and stability in

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the region and the world,” the Foreign Ministers said.

“In this regard, we strongly urge the DPRK to immediately comply fully with its obligations under all relevant UN Security Council Resolutions,” they added.

The Asean Foreign Ministers also expressed their support for the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.

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PIECES of evidence police allegedly found in the house of Ozamiz Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog-Echavez were planted, her lawyer said on Saturday.

The Parojinog family claims to have obtained CCTV footage that would prove their claim against the raiding team composed of members of the Ozamiz City Police Station and the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. The vice mayor’s parents, Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. and Susan Parojinog, and 13 others were killed in a separate raid in Ozamiz before dawn Sunday.

The CCTV footage allegedly taken by the vice mayor’s daughter showed a policeman wiping a long firearm with a white cloth.

Another part of the CCTV footage showed two policemen talking to each other. One policeman was seen handing over a short firearm to the other.

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ASEAN...

From A1

At the Asean opening ceremony on Saturday morning, Cayetano confirmed there had been strong debates on Friday.

“You have to excuse my voice as, my colleagues, we kept each other up until almost midnight last night. In the true Asean way we were able to passionately argue our national interest,” Cayetano said.

Various diplomats said that Vietnam was likely to lose its battle to insert the strong language against China, with the Philippines as host of the talks wielding greater influence.

Asean is set to endorse this weekend a framework for a code of conduct with China, which is meant to pave the way for more concrete action.

But security analysts point out that the framework comes 15 years after negotiations on the issue first began, and China has used that time to cement its claims with the artificial islands.

Another pressing issue in Manila will be the growing terrorism threat in the region.

The event is taking place as Philippine security forces battle Islamic State-aligned gunmen who have since May been occupying parts of Marawi, the nation’s main Muslim city about 800 kms to the south of Manila.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also set to meet Duterte on the sidelines of the event, with those talks expected to cover the Philippine President’s controversial drug war that has claimed thousands of lives. AFP

'COPS...

From A1 According to the Parojinog family, these two firearms were among those supposedly recovered by the policemen from the house of the vice mayor.

Ozamiz City Police Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido had insisted that the pieces of evidence seized from the houses of the Parojinogs were not planted.

The vice mayor’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, said on Friday that the CCTV footage taken by her daughter would also serve to bolster their claim against the police.

Apart from firearms, the police said drugs and a huge amount of cash were seized from the vice mayor’s house.

The vice mayor and her brother, Reynaldo Parojinog Jr., are detained at the Philippine National Police’s Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

Espenido had admitted that CCTV cameras in the house of the mayor were “paralyzed” during the raid to protect the identities of their confidential agents.

Police have filed against the siblings complaints for violation of of Section 11 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act (possession of dangerous drugs) and Section 21 of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act (acquisition or purchase and sale of firearms and ammunition).

Th Parojinog siblings were also charged with violation of Section 3-A of Republic Act 9516 or “unlawful manufacture, sales, acquisition, disposition, importation or possession of a part, ingredient, machinery, tool or instrument used or intended to be used for the manufacture, construction, assembly, delivery or detonation.”

NORTH...

From A1 They also called on all concerned parties, particularly North Korea, to exercise self restraint, and underscored the importance of creating conditions which “is conducive for dialogue to de-escalate tensions.”

“We support initiatives to improve inter-Korean relations towards establishing permanent peace in the Korean Peninsula,” they also said.

The Foreign Ministers added the Asean could take the role in contributing to peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.

In their statement, the foreign ministers said: ”We strongly call upon the DPRK, as participant of the Asean regional forum, to positively contribute to realize the ARF Vision to maintain the Asia-Pacific as a region of lasting peace, stability, friendship, and prosperity where States and organizations, both within and outside the region, to work in a spirit of mutual trust, appreciation and respect to overcome security threats and challenges and prevent escalation of potential conflicts with a view to creating an environment conducive to sustainable development, social progress and improved quality of life for all peoples in the region.”

NOBODY'S PERFECT, DFA TELLS US SOLONS T

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

HE Philippines is prepared to correct the American’s “false perception” on the country’s human rights situation in case State Secretary Rex Tillerson brings up Washington’s concern on the matter when he meets with Asean ministers in Manila next week.

“We share the belief that no country has a perfect human rights situation,” Foreign Affairs department said in a statement.

“We welcome the opportunity to address their concerns and correct the perceptions they may have gleaned from exaggerated media reports,” DFA said.

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US House committee has conducted a hearing in July on the consequences of President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war against illegal drug trade, killing some 12,000 alleged drug users and dealers.

During the hearing, California’s 14th Congressional District lawmaker Karen Lorraine Jacquelin Speier condemned the “murderous, extrajudicial” campaign of Duterte against illegal drug trade.

For Massachusetts 2nd Congressional District lawmaker and cochairman of the commission Jame McGovern’s said that Duterte is

not welcome in the White House and that he would stage a protest if the Philippine President visit the US. “It was a mistake for our current administration in the United States to extend an invitation to President Duterte here,” McGovern said in a hearing.

“I certainly believe very strongly that a man with the human rights record of Mr. Duterte should not be invited to the White House. If he comes, I will lead the protest,” said McGovern, who co-chairs the commission, which is tasked with “promoting, defending, and advocating for international human rights,” he added.

The DFA said that it understand that it is part of the American lawmakers’ duty as government officials to talk about human rights, “not only with the Philippines but with the rest of the world.

“Because they are accountable to their Congress and their press

as they advance their values and interests,” the DFA said.

The Foreign Affairs agency also noted that the Philippines is the oldest democracy in Asia and respect for human rights is a shared value especially with its treaty ally, the United States.

“Discussion on the issue of human rights are always included in our engagements with foreign governments, in particular with Western democracies,” the agency said.

On Friday, this year’s Asean chairman DFA secretary Alan Peter Cayetano has urged the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights and its 16 civil society organizations (SCOs) to stop “politicizing human rights”.

In his speech during the 6th Interface Asean between Foreign Ministers and the Representative of IACHR, Cayetano said without politicizing it both parties could fully discuss issues on human rights and take concrete actions.

“I am confident that AICHR will be able to help Asean reassure all our stakeholders and partners that in deed Asean is placing a great importance to human rights, if I may add, without politicizing human rights,” he stressed.

He said that the 10-member bloc who are present yesterday are aware that since its establishment in 2009, AICHR has been perform-

ing its mandate.

“It has undertaken significant activities to promote and protect human rights in the region and to serve as the overarching Asean human rights body,” he said.

He also said that the Asean would like to know what AICHR has accomplished in 2016 and what programs and activities it has lined up for its next cycle year.

“The coming years will bring more challenges in the field of human rights as we aim to strengthen our Asean community and engage the world more extensively,” he said.

Tillerson arrived on Saturday evening, and four other Foreign Ministers who arrived yesterday to attend the ARF on Monday.

On Saturday morning, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Hwa arrived in the Philippines; followed by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi; and New Zealand Foreign chief Gerry Brownlee.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho has arrived this midnight (Sunday), followed by Foreign Ministers Christina Alexandra Freeland of Canada, Sergey Lavrov of Russia; Sushma Swaraj of India; Abul Hassan MHmud Ali of Bangladesh; Fumio Kishida of Japan; Federica Moghherini; and Tsend MunkhOrgil of Mongolia.

RODY CALLS NOY STUPID AFTER RECKLESS REMARK

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte took potshots at his predecessor’s ‘careless’ remarks and branded him as “stupid” for claiming that there has been no progress in the current administration’s war on illegal drugs.

Speaking before the troops in Marawi City, Duterte blamed the spread of illegal drugs, of which former President Benigno Aquino III failed to address in his term, as the reason why the May 23 armed conflict in Marawi City broke out.

“Marawi [crisis] erupted because of the drug operation. Now, when you say, ‘nothing happened,’ that’s an insult. I am very sensitive with this kind of issue because many of my policemen and soldiers already died. So if you are careless to say ‘nothing happened,’ I’d really get foul-mouthed. So do not just make a plain statement because you don’t

In a press conference, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said the Asean expected to have a “candid and free flowing” discussion with its regional partners, including Russia, North Korea, China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

“It is important for all parties to actively participate in the discussion in ARF,” Bolivar said.

He said that since North Korea started testing its missiles over the past, the Asean remained consistent about its position on Pyongyang’s action and the statement was a message to them that the 10-member bloc was concerned.

During the ARF, Bolivar said, the ASEAN expected to have a “face to face” dialogue with North Korea.

On Friday, DFA chief Alan Peter Cayetano, the sitting Asean chairman, said the Asean was eyeing to downgrade its ties with North Korea.

Cayetano also warned the North Korean government that it would suspend talks with them if Pyongyang continued to test its missiles.

“You will not get us to talk about your security if you just continue those missiles,” Cayetano warned.

“We are studying how we can downgrade [the issue] because we don’t have much engagement with them,” he said.

North Korea was first admitted to participate in the ARF through a unani-

know the real score,” Duterte said.

“I got insulted because many of my troops died but many of the enemies also died, but at the cost of the lives of my soldiers and police. That’s why my retort was, ‘You [Aquino] are so stupid,’” he added.

Duterte said he could have accepted Aquino’s tirade, but the former President’s remarks were unacceptable.

“He’s an ex-president. He can just say, ‘Well the battle is a continuing one. It would never stop but we have to continue to be vigilant.’ He should have said it that way. That’s it. We’re both president. I am very sensitive with that kind of issue involving my soldiers and policemen,” he said.

Duterte likewise lashed out at Senator Grace Poe, telling his former presidential rival not to meddle in the issue between him and Aquino, saying that the senator did not understand his position.

mous decision during the foreign ministerial meeting in Bangkok in July 2000.

At the time, the leaders of both South and North Koreas had just held a historic summit in June, and Pyongyang appeared to be intensifying its diplomatic outreach to international organizations.

It was Thailand’s foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan who, as Pyongyang’s top supporter for its admission, argued that the forum would provide a useful venue for engaging it rather than isolating North Korea.

Bolivar said he was aware the Asean had criteria for selecting countries to be admitted in the ARF. But he said it might be impossible for Asean to ask North Korea to exit from ARF but if Pyongyang felt like making an exit, that was in the latter’s judgment.

“If North Korea wants to exit, that is their prerogative,” Bolivar said.

Washington has said it is considering asking Asean to suspend North Korea’s membership in the forum.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho will attend the Asean Regional Forum on Monday and he is set to arrive on Sunday midnight.

North Korea launched its second intercontinental ballistic missile test last week, which deepened fears by the international community over its leader Kim Jong-Un’s nuclear weapons strike capabilities.

“Grace (Poe) said, ‘watch your mouth.’You take care of your mouth, and I will take care of mine because my mouth is not for your mouth.

Tahimik ka lang diyan kasi hindi mo naintindihan [Just shut up because you don’t understand] from where of I stand,” Duterte said.

On Thursday, Poe said she understood that cursing was part of the President’s “style,” but this may influence children to do the same after he called Aquino “g*go (a fool).”

Duterte, who visited Marawi City for the second time on Friday, once again asked soldiers to “stay alive and fight cool” as they continue the battle against Islamic Stateinspired extremists.

“I have to be here because I want all of you to know that… Mahal ko kayo. I hope you will be able to clean up Marawi City and get rid of the terrorists,” the President said.

The President said he was hope-

ful that the government will not lose more troops because of the ongoing battle.

“I hope that there would be less heartaches and you’d be able to clean up Marawi. Get rid of the terrorists and I hope no one would be placed in danger. I have to be here because I want you to know that I really love you.”

“Stay alive, fight cool. Do not be in a hurry. Do not go into rage because if you’re infuriate, you’ll just put your life at risk. Take time,” he added.

Duterte likewise reiterated his pledge of putting up a P50-billion trust fund for the children of soldiers and police.

The President was accompanied by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Armed Forces Chief General Eduardo Año, and Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go.

SENATORS...

From A1

“We laud the President’s decision to sign the law even when there was some hesitation from his economic managers. The challenge now, however, is to ensure that the new law will be effectively and completely implemented in 112 state colleges and universities nationwide,” the senators said in a joint statement.

The senators are hoping the economic managers would not bungle the implementation of the law, saying their cooperation is crucial in ensuring its success.

“The new law will only become a reality if government allocates enough and accessible funding for SUCs nationwide.

The executive branch and Congress must work closely to make tertiary education accessible to all through tuition subsidies and financial assistance,” they said.

Congress already provided P8.3 billion to the Commission on Higher Education for tuition subsidy in the current General Appropriations Act. However, the Department of Budget and Management has removed provisions for free tuition in SUCs in the 2018 National Expenditures Program that

was submitted to Congress during the President’s second State of the Nation Address.

Aquino, the principal author and sponsor of the measure in the Senate, estimated that the law would require about P20 to P25 billion to be implemented nationwide, way below the P100 billion estimate made by DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

The lawmakers assured the public it would ensure that adequate budget would be included in the next year’s appropriation act.

“We are glad that the President saw just how important this law is to ensuring that every young Filipino will have a greater opportunity to finish their studies, and to improve their lives and that of their families,” said Drilon.

He also congratulated Aquino who pushed for the passage of the bill even when he was stripped of chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture.

“I would like to thank my colleague Senator Aquino, for his pivotal role in this fight to bring quality education closer to all Filipinos, no matter their status or condition in life. This law will bring a positive effect to the lives of not only young Filipinos today, but in the years to come as well,” Drilon said.

Minority senators De Lima and Pangilinan also co-authored the law, he noted.

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SOLGEN MOVE AGAINST NDF, NPA ‘PREMATURE’

By John Paolo Bencito

T

HE National Democratic Front of the Philippines on Saturday said the move of the Office of the Solicitor General to ask courts to cancel bail bonds and order the arrest of its consultants was “premature and precipitate,” as the government has yet to formally terminate the peace negotiations with the communists.

In a statement, NDFP Legal Consultant Edre Olalia said there is “yet no written formal notice of termination properly addressed to the NDFP, as mandatorily required by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees [JASIG],” which is a solemn bilateral agreement that protects negotiators, consultants, staffers, security, and other personnel of both negotiating parties.

“The OSG move appears not in concert with the standing pronouncements of the GRP Panel and OPAPP—the official and authorized representatives

of the GRP in the peace negotiations—that (a) the talks are not yet officially terminated despite the verbal pronouncements of the President [Rodrigo Duterte] as GRP Principal, as there is yet no such written notice and (b) the JASIG still remains in full force and effect,” Olalia said.

On Friday, Solicitor General Jose Calida asked several courts to order the rearrest of 21 NDF peace consultants—who were detained for different criminal charges but temporarily released to participate in peace talks with the government in Oslo, Norway—after the peace talks failed.

Moving to rearrest the NDFP consultants “is a circumvention and even violation of a solemn binding bilateral agreement [in the JASIG] entered into by the government,” Olalia stressed.

“It ties the hands of the President, and preempts his flexibility and prerogative to eventually and ultimately resume talks or peace negotiations anyway, notwithstanding the current circumstances, especially after sobriety has prevailed, to save the peace process and go back to the reasons why it must be pursued despite periodic challenges along the way,” he added.

Still, the Duterte administration has asked the courts to cancel the bail bonds and order the arrest of the NDFP consultants facing criminal cases with Duterte ordering the termination of the backchannel talks with the Front, which represents

the communist insurgents.

Calida said the conditional release granted them by the courts was only for the Oslo peace negotiations, including backchannel talks that Duterte had ordered canceled after the NDFP’s military arm, the New People’s Army, attacked government troops in several provinces.

The chief state lawyer cited the Supreme Court resolution dated Aug. 2, 2016, which allowed the provisional liberty of NDFP leaders Satur Ocampo, Randall Echanis and Vicente Ladlad.

“One of the conditions provided that once the peace negotiations are terminated, their bonds are deemed automatically canceled,” the Solicitor General said.

“Since all judicial decisions form part of the law of the land, the courts can now issue recommitment orders, as these NDF consultants are similarly situated to Echanis and Ladlad,” he said.

Calida said the President’s declaration during the State of the Nation Address that the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA rebels are enemies of the state “signifies that any peace negotiations with them… must officially end.”

CPP-NPA leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, who are facing multiple murder and kidnapping charges before the Manila and Quezon City regional trial courts, were among the NDFP consultants released on bail to join the Oslo negotiations.

BANGON MARAWI. Office of

Civil Defense Assistant Secretary Kristoffer James Purisima (left), Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra (middle), and Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla (left) listen as a Lumad boy performs at the opening ceremonies of the Bangon Marawi Forum at the Asean International Media Center in Conrad Hotel, Pasay City on Friday.

PNA/Oliver Marquez

SOLON: BOC ATHLETES NOT DOING INTEL WORK SURIGAO del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers doesn’t believe the athletes hired by the Bureau of Customs are doing intelligence work.

“So, they were hired as technical assistants and intel officers, but it’s only to play for the Bureau,” Barbers said Saturday in a forum in Quezon City. “On that point, we’re going to examine what’s in it [for the BOC], because we [congressmen] don’t agree with that kind of procedure inside the Bureau.”

Barbers chairs the House committee on dangerous drugs, which has launched an inquiry into the seized P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China that Customs agents seized in Valenzuela City last May. Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon earlier justified the Bureau’s hiring of former professional basketball

and volleyball players, saying it was part of a “well-thought out program.”

Lawyer Mandy Anderson, Faeldon’s chief of staff, said the hiring of professional athletes was part of the BOC’s personnel development and training program.

The basketball players carry the BOC colors in the UNTV Cup, which pits teams from various government offices and departments—including a squad for the House of Representatives. The bureau also backed a volleyball team that played in the VLeague, which has been disbanded.

Faeldon confirmed the 28 athletes on the BOC payroll are also rendering intelligence work aside from sports-related services. He emphasized they were hired as “no one expects them to be part” of the intelligence group.

“They do not know anything about intelligence [work]. That’s precisely [why] they are there. Why? Because nobody expects them to be gathering information for the bureau. So, they are the most effective intelligence information gatherers,” Faeldon said in a press conference.

Volleyball star Alyssa Valdez and basketball veterans Marlou Aquino and Kenneth Duremdes were hired by the BoC under a “contract of services” and were paid P50,000 a month in 2016.

Anderson said the BoC intends to renew the contracts of the athletes despite criticisms, notably from congressmen.

Barbers, however, said the Bureau should justify the renewal of the athletes’ contracts. He said their job performance and their daily attendance

should be closely scrutinized before the BoC could renew their deals.

The solon warned that if Faeldon insists on employing the athletes, “he has a problem.” Barbers said lawmakers would probe their service contracts, the athletes being considered as contractuals, as well as their daily time records.

“They should be going to work every day, but it seems that isn’t happening,” Barbers said.

Thirdly, the Surigao lawmaker said the athletes “are not performing intelligence work” because if they were, they should have reports to show for it.

“We will look at their performance reports. If [the BoC] insists on this, [Faeldon] will have the proper venue to defend that anyway and insist that it’s legal,” he added.

NEWSMAN ACOSTA PASSES AWAY, 75 VETERAN journalist Rosauro G. Acosta, the former Managing Editor of the Manila Standard, passed away Friday night due to cardiac arrest.

He was 75.

Apart from his stint with the Manila Standard, Acosta was editor-in-chief of The Market Monitor weekly business paper before his passing. He died a fortnight short of his 76th birthday on Aug. 18.

“Sir Roy,” as we in the Manila Standard called him, also was editor-in-chief of Business Mirror and other local publications in a long and distinguished journalistic career.

The Acosta family said the viewing of his remains started Saturday at 7 p.m. at Funeraria Paz on Araneta Avenue in Quezon City. His body will be cremated and interred at the Himlayang Pilipino.

Roy is survived by his wife Carmelita, brother Samuel, sisters Aurora and Eufrocinia, daughterin-law Mabel Guia-Acosta, and granddaughters Xeres and Xeleena.

CLOSE WATCH. Police officers are stationed inside and around the CCP Complex in Pasay City to secure the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ 50th Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center. Ey Acasio

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DRUG ITEMS SEIZED FROM MARAWI MOSQUE MARAWI CITY—Police seized drug paraphernalia believed to be owned by terrorists at a mosque here on Saturday, amid the authorities’ offensives and clearing operations to end the long-drawn conflict with Maute Group-led insurgents.

Chief Insp. William Santos of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Unit in Mindanao said the mosque in Barangay Lilod was a haven and sniper lookout for the terrorists, but authorities did not find illegal drugs among the items seized.

Pictures shared by police with the media showed holes in the mosque’s walls where Maute snipers were supposedly positioned to attack advancing government troops. The mosque itself was riddled with bullet holes.

The DEU operatives also found an identification card and belongings of a Police Officer 1 whose name was withheld from the media. Authorities suspect the cop had joined the Maute forces.

Santos said the PO1 was an officer from Rizal, who had gone absent without leave, with the PNP yet to verify if he was recruited by PO2 Jessy Original, who was jailed for his suspected involvement in the night market bombing in Davao City last September.

Santos said the rogue cop was pictured with Maute operatives, allegedly with a wound and blood on his clothes.

In the house of a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology officer in Barangay Disomangcop, police also recovered a scale, which could have been used to weigh illegal drugs.

“As a jail official, that person might have supplied drugs to inmates,” Santos said.

In Lanao Lake, the Philippine Coast Guard continued to foil attempts of the Maute fighters to escape, as more teams from their special antiterrorist operations unit have erected a blockade.

Two teams are guarding the possible exits to prevent the terrorists from replenishing their forces or their ammunition, Capt. Leo Panopio of the PCG District for Northern Mindanao said.

During his visit on Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte told government troops here that the conflict is almost over, and asked them for “a little more sacrifice” to end the crisis heading into its third month.

HOUSE MERGING FOUR BILLS ON SOLDIERS’ PAY, BENEFITS

By Maricel V. Cruz A HOUSE of Representatives panel has created a technical working group that will consolidate four bills seeking to rationalize and raise the various monetary benefits for members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The House committee on national defense and security, chaired by Rep. Amado Espino of Pangasinan, approved this week the creation of the TWG for House Bills 429, 1490, 5532 and 5592 authored by Reps. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of Pampanga, Harlin Neil Abayon of Aangat Tayo party-list, Michael Romero and Enrico Pineda of 1-PACMAN, and Espino, respectively.

The bill’s authors said the adjustment in the pay and benefits of AFP members would be “a way of giving recognition to soldiers who risk their lives to preserve the internal security and stability of the country and defend the integrity of the national territory.”

Arroyo, the former President, said her HB 429 seeks to adjust the combat pay and the additional combat incentive pay of the members of the AFP. “It shall allocate a monthly combat pay of P1,000 and an additional P500 per day combat incentive pay for those who are designated to engage in actual battle,” she said.

Meanwhile, Romero and Pineda in HB 5532 sought to increase the longevity pay of all officers and enlisted men of the AFP, and provide additional payment for their substantive duties and responsibilities.

Abayon said his HB 1490 seeks an automatic pay increase for any member of the AFP who is deployed away from his permanent station, or in the case of a member of an AFP reserve component, the member’s home of record, once the deployment period exceeds 180 days of continuous duty.

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017

News

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LAWMAKER SEEKS BAN ON ELECTRONIC WASTES

By Maricel V. Cruz

A

CONGRESSWOMAN on Saturday asked the leadership of the House of Representatives to ban the importation of electronic wastes or e-wastes.

Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Emmi de Jesus pushed for the passage of House Bill 5901 as the House Committee on Ecology started deliberations on the measure.

De Jesus said it was important for government to regulate and manage e-wastes in the country especially in light of garbage shipments by Canada and Japan

to the country.

“Without a mechanism that will penalize the importation of ‘endof-life’ electronic gadgets, the Philippines will always be at risk of being a dumpsite of electronic wastes by developed economies,” De Jesus said.

“The ironic thing is that under neoliberal globalization, we manufacture the semiconduc-

tors and chips of cellphones and other gadgets, ship them to advanced economies for assembly, then receive them back as surplus commodities and e-wastes,” she added.

HB 5901 prohibits and penalizes the importation of electrical and electronic equipment that have reached “end-of-life,” invoking the Basel Convention which controls the transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous wastes.

While the government through the Environment department has initiatives in recycling e-wastes, De Jesus said these were not enough to protect Filipinos and the environment from the harmful effects of e-wastes.

“With HB 5901, the national and local governments are directed to establish facilities for e-waste collection, treatment, and disposal, and to provide incentives for e-waste recycling,” De Jesus said.

“Toxic metals and chemicals from e-wastes easily seep through the environment and enter the food chain, especially now that we’re into the rainy season... Clearly, there should be government intervention on this,” De Jesus added.

The Philippines is generating 127,000 metric tons of e-waste per year or around 1.3 kilos of e-waste per person, according to the 2014 United Nations University global e-waste report.

BREASTFEEDING AWARENESS. Some 2,000 mothers in Manila participate in a weekend breastfeeding event to celebrate national breastfeeding awareness month and to attempt to break the world record for most number of people breastfeeding at the same time. AFP

MERALCO SUBSTATION FIRE CAUSES TRAFFIC

By Joel E. Zurbano A FIRE of still unknown origin struck a substation of Manila Electric Co. in Makati City, causing heavy traffic in major thoroughfares in the city’s central business district Saturday afternoon.

The blaze, whose cause has yet to be determined, at the Meralco substation on Recoletos Street

MEDICAL MISSION.

Hundreds of fireign delegates from International Christian Church Mercy Worldwide arrive Saturday at the Jose Fabella Memorial School in Mandaluyong City for a feeding and medical mission for children as part of their activity in the Philippines —the delegates being welcomed by students with gospel songs.

Manny Palmero

in Urdaneta Village happened around 2:15 p.m., fire authorities said. There was no immediate report of any injuries.

But motorists and commuters encountered traffic gridlock on both the southbound and northbound lanes of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue following a road closure imposed by the local government and the Metro Manila Development Authority.

Motorists coming to and from the areas of Ayala Avenue, Magallanes, Mackinley Road and Pasay Road also experienced heavy traffic.

“We came from [Asean] event and there’s heavy traffic on both directions [of Edsa],” said media practitioner Manny Vargas.

Responding firemen put the fire under control around 2:45 p.m. They put out the fire,

which reached second alarm, at around 3:02 p.m.

Local officials advised business establishments to practice safety precautions to avoid the detrimental effects of fire accidents.

The Bureau of Fire Protection is making safety awareness a yearround concern to ensure that communities and households are safe and not only during the Fire Prevention Month.

OFFICIALS WELCOME NEW NAME FOR BID

By Vito Barcelo IMMIGRATION officials and employees welcomed a proposed bill reverting the name of the bureau into Commission on Immigration to make it more responsive to the needs and challenges of the times.

The new bill titled “The Philippine Immigration and Homeland Security Act” was authored by Reps. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Xavier Jesus Romualdo, Evelina Escudero, Leopoldo Bataoil, and Maximo Rodriguez Jr. Immigration officials said renaming the bureau into a commission would raise the salary cap of all BI officials and employees.

The row over the pay at the BI erupted after President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed a 2017 budget provision on the use of Express Lane Funds to augment the salaries of immigration personnel.

The Express Lane Fund, taken from fees charged at the airport Express Lane, had been the source of overtime pay for Bureau of Immigration employees for 29 years.

At present, immigration officers, most of whom are under salary grade 11, receive P14,000 to P16,000 a month.

In a statement, Bataoil said despite several amendments and reorganizations made on the BI, there was still an urgent need to amend or revise Commonwealth Act No. 613, or “The Philippine Immigration Act of 1940” to be more responsive to the present times and for a wider scope of functions and jurisdictions.

Bataoil said the present BI was created through the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 (Commonwealth Act No. 613).

It became an attached agency of the Department of Justice and when martial law was declared in 1972, the Bureau of Immigration was renamed Commission on Immigration and Deportation.

The agency reverted to its original name the Bureau of Immigration in 1987 by virtue of Executive Order No. 292 signed by President Corazon Aquino.

Belmonte said the BI should be clothed with a renewed mandate to deliver world-class immigration services that will promote the country’s image in the international community as a safe tourist destination and a potential investment site.

Belmonte also said globalization had brought about mass human migration and ushered in the birth of international criminal syndicates engaged in human trafficking, drug trafficking and terrorism.

Aside from law enforcement, the impact of globalization on immigration can be felt in the economy as evidenced by the influx of foreigners coming to the country for business, pleasure or employment.

Escudero said there was a need to modernize structures and mechanisms necessary for the administration of immigration laws in keeping with the changing demands of the country’s role in the global community.

The bill creates the Commission on Immigration or Commission which shall be principally responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act, and the implementation of all laws, rules, regulations or orders of any competent authority concerning the entry and admission into, stay in, and the departure from the country of all persons.

QUAKE DAMAGES BUILDINGS, ROADS COTABATO CITY—A tremor of tectonic origin—movement of the earth’s plate—shook SouthCentral Mindanao at 8:30 a.m.

Saturday.

According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the extent of the earthquake varied from magnitude 5.6 to magnitude 6 from its epicenter in Malapatan Sarangani—specifically, 05.81°North, 125.41°East-022 km South 38° East of that town.

Authorities said assessment teams deployed to areas affected have reported minor damage to buildings and road structures, but

the total cost of which had yet to be determined.

Last April, South Cotabato also experienced a magnitude 7.2 shock.

On Aug. 17, 1976, a killer tsunami earthquake hit Cotabato City and neighboring areas. More than 8,000 people were killed then, and 10,000 more were either injured or were left homeless.

The Phivolcs here has asked local officials to pass an Ordinance, calling for a “retrofit” of buildings and other structures in the city.

Retrofitting will subject buildings and structures to thorough inspection for evaluation in terms

of structural durability and endurance in state of earthquakes and other calamities.

“We must be concerned about this, since the Philippines, as a whole, is included in the Pacific Ring of Fire,” said engineer Rainier Amilbahar, Phivolcs-Central Mindanao seismic station chief.

The “Ring of Fire” is a mapped fault line along the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have occurred.

“There is no substitute to being always ready against occurrences of natural disasters,” Amilbahar said. Nash B. Maulana

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 Adelle Chua, Editor

Opinion

Joyce Pangco Pañares, Issue Editor

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE

A UNIVERSAL GOOD

CONTEMPORARY ART AT SF MOMA

SAN FRANCISCO, California—The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art guarantees an interesting experience for visitors with its collection of contemporary works that will definitely elicit reactions whether for better or for worse.

When I visited, they were having an Edvard Munch special exhibit for which they collected an extra fee.

Since the Norwegian artist’s “Scream” was not there, I decided to save six dollars and skip that exhibit, plunking down $25 for general admission.

I didn’t take the guided tour but instead meandered through the building and its seven floors and outdoor spaces, going as my fancy took me. I must confess that modern art leaves me unimpressed. I prefer figurative art, which in my estimation takes more technical skill. Abstractionism seems to me like a bunch of rowdy kindergartners let loose in an art supply store. But I knew I would learn something from the experience.

In the SF MOMA lobby hangs a mobile by Alexander Calder, who invented the art form. Frankly, “Untitled” (1963, metal and paint) looks like a group of white clothes hangers supporting white forms that look like guitar picks. I prefer the bright primary colors of his “Big Crinkly” (1969, metal and paint) displayed in an outdoor terrace.

In one of the many rooms, my inner kindergartner’s eye is caught by Ellsworth Kelly’s “Spectrum I” (1953, oil on canvas). It has 14 carefully laid vertical stripes in the color of the rainbow, with the violet spectrum in the middle. Inner Kindergartner believes she can create such a painting herself with a 24-box of Crayola crayons.

Another work of Kelly’s comprises seven horizontal rectangles, painted, in order, blue, red, white black, yellow, white, and blue. The work is titled “Red Yellow Blue White and Black with White Border (1952-53, oil on canvas). Nearby are four larger rectangles arranged beside each other, painted blue, green, black, red. I facepalm.

In another room, Cy Twombly’s works have center stage. What is this that fills one wall? It looks like a chalkboard with furious scribbles, not even discernable text. The card beside it says these “restrained gray paintings” rendered with “oil-based house paint, crayon, and graphite on canvas” are actually referred to as “blackboards” for their “superficial resemblance” to those found in school rooms. I have seen more interesting drawings in elementary school classrooms.

I found Mike Mandel’s photographs of ‘70s California more rewarding and significant as a documentation of the times. In his photos are grannies with neatly coiffed hair and stylish coats, women with animal-print handbags and cat’s-eye sunglasses, views of motel swimming pools and boardwalks.

Walking through more rooms, a familiar style catches my eye. Frida Kahlo’s “Frieda and Diego Rivera” (1931, oil on canvas) is beautiful. It shows Diego towering over Frieda, her hand over his. It is a portrait of their love, made tangible, public, immortal.

As I leave, I spy another room,

O

NE would think the signing into law of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017 would prompt universal celebration.

After all, free tuition for those enrolled in 112 state and local universities and colleges is a significant social step. Many Filipino students are not able to go past high school because their parents cannot afford to send them to college.

Thus, potential remains just that, and even talented students are consigned to lowly jobs that do not provide much room for upward mobility, higher learning and an opportunity to contribute more to nation building.

But now P16 billion annually has been earmarked for free tuition in SUCs despite objection from economic managers who believe it might cost the government too much.

Political will saved the day: “[We] weighed everything and came to the conclusion that the long-term benefits that will be derived from a well-developed tertiary education on the part of the citizenry will definitely outweigh any short-term budgetary challenges. If there’s a will, there’s a way,” Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.

The benefits will not be instant and details still have to be worked out. Appropriation and finance are tricky, as is the determination of those deserving of the scholarship.

We trust that these details will be worked out by the bureaucrats whose job it is to implement the lofty goals of laws.

Unfortunately, instead of rallying behind making sure the law’s objectives are realistically met, there is now a debate on who should take the credit for the passage of a popular law.

Staunch Duterte critic, Senator Benigno Paolo Aquino IV, the cousin of his namesake former President, is the author of the law. But instead of noting that support for it cuts across political affiliations, Communications assistant secretary Margaux Uson took to social media yet again— despite her boss’ promise to hire editors to rein in her less-than-enlightened blog and Facebook posts.

She accused the senator of taking sole credit for the law even when education was not a priority during his cousin’s term. She then said budget for the law would come from President Rodrigo Duterte.

An ambitious law is upon us, and despite its grand objectives it will certainly be challenged by numerous practical issues. This should be the focus for now. Uson, Aquino and other noisemakers should stop making the matter about themselves and their enemies. They only reveal that they themselves are in dire need of education.

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CARING ENOUGH LONG STORY SHORT ADELLE CHUA

WHAT is it like to be a drag queen with a full-time job in a foreign country?

The musical Caredivas has been around for a while but it was only sometime last month that I finally got the opportunity to see this Philippine Educational Theater Association pro-

duction.

I had high expectations, of course.

PETA has consistently impressed me with the political and social relevance of its plays and the sheer talent of its performers. From recent memory there is Rak of Aegis, set amid the all-

too-real context of extreme weather conditions, climate change and poverty. A girl dreams big—and finds love besides. The production uses the songs of the pop-rock icon Aegis band.

Yes, they of the high notes and deep hugot.

Or you can have 3 Stars and a Sun, set in a futuristic society—what is left of the Philippines after a fallout, and where hegemony still exists despite, or because of, the controlled environment. If musicals could be dark and Turn to B2

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B2

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

CARING...

A SAVAGE BATTLE

From B1

disturbing this—in rap, mind you— this would be it. It’s song and dance all right but not in a cheery way. And this is exactly why it works.

Earlier this year, there was Game of Trolls—about a group of Internet trolls working for a politician who does not have much respect for accuracy, and the ghosts of martial law.

And now, these five queens.

Chelsea, Kayla, Shai, Jonee and Thalia are Filipino caregivers in Israel.

All of them saw working abroad as a solution to the grinding poverty they experience at home. Chelsea is lucky because she gets along with the old man she takes care of. Kayla—not so much. She has problems with her papers and the wife of his employer treats her like a slave. Shai is forever haunted by the words of her mother, alive and well back in the Philippines, always nagging her to send more money back home to take care of the extended family, including able-bodied siblings.

They try to put together a performing group—seeing how they all love to sing, dance, and doll themselves up—but encounter difficulties along the way: Chelsea’s patient becomes sick and eventually dies, leaving her hard pressed to find a new job before she is deported. She also falls in love with a Palestinian man who is evading authorities. Kayla does get sent home to the Philippines upon the discovery of her illegal status. Shai, the leader of the group, harbors resentment when they score a gig at a Tel Aviv bar but is prevented from performing.

Chelsea’s boyfriend also drives a wedge between her and her friends, as does the infighting and envy among them. In the end, Shai’s employer takes her to New York, the rest stay put where they are, and they manage to keep in touch through technology.

Caredivas is directed by Maribel Legarda and written by Liza Magtoto.

Music and lyrics are by Vincent de Jesus, who also plays Shai. The July 9 staging was produced by lawyer Roy Allan Magturo. *** From popular culture, social media, and the experiences of family and friends, we know much about how it is to work abroad. The most common threads are stories of dire loneliness— everything is foreign, the old life seems so far away, and working conditions are difficult at the very least.

But not all employers are evil slave drivers, and not all Filipino workers are ill-treated. Chelsea’s Isaac, for instance, even teaches her Hebrew when he feels up to it. This is why she mourned his passing. Even in a foreign land, Filipinos are able to form connections with their employers, colleagues and other compatriots. Over time, these relationships can seem better than the ones they leave behind in their home countries, and provides all the more reason for them to stay. “Home” and “family” over time become relative.

The social and political situation of their host countries is also something we need to consider. Israel is a good example of how people have become accustomed to living amid conflict; curfews and searches are a fact of life and they carry on notwithstanding these. But just because you get used to such situations does not mean they become less threatening.

Finally, whatever the situation, one always needs an avenue to express oneself—it can be through a hobby, fellowship among compatriots, music, literature, art. The drag queens of Caredivas are no different. They take overseas jobs as a matter of survival, but they also need to achieve their potential and truly live. *** PETA will stage again, in September, Game of Trolls. I highly recommend it to millennials who will no doubt learn much, and be inspired much about what it was like during martial law, and how those memories and lessons spill over to where we are now.

Indeed theater is a reflection of who we are and what we aspire to be, individually and as a society. Carry on, PETA, and congratulations on the welldeserved Ramon Magsaysay Award! adellechua@gmail.com

CONTEMPORARY...

From B1 tucked beside the baggage counter.

It holds the museum’s older artworks.

Now these are more to my liking. Andre Derain’s oil painting “Paysage du Midi (Midi Landscape)” (1906) evoke a place with shape and color. Looking to be in a similar style are two seascapes

by Henri Matisse, painted the same

Iraqi federal police members celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on July 9, 2017 after the government’s announcement of the liberation of the embattled city. AFP

By Ahmad Al-Rubaye MOSUL—I have covered nearly the entire nine months that Iraqi forces spent retaking Mosul from Islamic State jihadists. I would spend weeks at the front with the soldiers, witnessing the killing, smelling the stench of death. I was gone so much that when I would come home for a few days of rest, my two-year-old daughter no longer recognized me.

Why go through all that? I am Iraqi and I saw it as my duty to show to the outside world what was happening here.

To me, the battle for Mosul was the most important over the past 14 years, since the fall of Saddam Hussein, because I think it is the beginning of the end of the Islamic State, the brutal extremists who at one point took over two-thirds of Iraq and were threatening the capital Baghdad.

Covering the battle took its toll on me psychologically. I saw so much killing. The smell of death was always present, sometimes for days on end.

Mosul was an especially savage battle. The militants were surrounded in an area where they had been entrenched for several years. The presence of civilians made it even

more bloody. Often I would witness fighting between Iraqi forces and IS forces in small alleyways. I would see bodies of IS fighters still wearing their suicide belts, bodies of civilians starting to decompose.

Fear was ever present during the fighting. Fear is natural. You’re in the middle of the battle, so there’s always a danger that you will be killed.

The journalists were always on alert to avoid snipers, who were highly trained and very skilled and seemed to target journalists. Then there was the danger of improvised explosive devices planted in alleyways, buildings and cars.

On some days I imagined myself going home wounded or dead. Once in the Old City, we were trapped by IS fighters in a spot for seven hours.

We all faced the fact that we may not come out alive, but thank God reinforcements eventually came and the IS militants fled.

You saw and felt the fear when civilians would flee their homes and walk toward Iraqi forces. Those poor people. They hadn’t seen government forces in more than three years.

During those years, they were living under the cruelty of the Islamic State militants, who were telling them that

the government forces would come and kill them and rape their women.

So obviously they were afraid. Of everyone and everything.

When you cover so much carnage, there are so many scenes that stick in your mind long after you’ve lived through them. I will never forget the Yazidis when IS got to Sinjar mountain in 2014, trapping thousands on the mountain top and forcing scores to flee. I saw some heartbreaking scenes in Dohuk, where women and children were sleeping in the open. One woman gave birth under a bridge, with her husband standing over her, holding her IV solution.

That scene always pops into my head now every time I’m in a hospital or medical center.

Another scene is of a man carrying a six-year-old boy who had been hit by a sniper’s bullet in Ein Jahesh area west of Mosul. He walked up to us, put his son on the ground and started to sob. After he calmed down a bit, he told us his story.

“I live in a village nearby. I was fleeing IS fighters with my wife and two boys. They shot and killed my wife. I left her body where it was and went back to our house. When night fell, I decided to try to escape again with

my two children. On the way, a sniper shot and killed one of my children, so I buried him in a dark place on the road.”

Trouble was he buried the son who was alive. Both of the boys were covered in blood and the one alive was in a deep sleep. The father was so tired and so scared, and it was so dark, that he chose the wrong son.

He didn’t realize his mistake until it was too late. We later learned that he had gone mad.

Scenes like this still haunt me. Especially when I am sitting alone with my thoughts.

Although the IS had been driven out of most of Mosul, they still control pockets in the city, and in the rest of Iraq, like the Anbar province. I will cover battles to retake these places.

And once there is no more IS in Iraq, I will go back to my normal coverage of the country.

I have been covering what has been happening in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. And the Mosul battle was just one chapter, albeit an important one, in this story.

The battle was a chapter of a bigger war and it is with sadness that I think that this war is not yet over; there will be more chapters. AFP

TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION PLAN HURTS WORKING FAMILIES

By Therese Raphael WHATEVER part of America President Donald Trump was making great again when he set the goal of reducing immigration by half, it wasn’t the part with working parents. It’s great to have immigrants with advanced degrees who can program in five coding languages.

But his proposal to slash legal immigration and admit applicants based on skills instead of family ties leaves out a lot of useful workers—among them, people who take care of young children.

Access to high-quality, affordable and flexible child care is already inadequate in much of the US for all but the well-off, and government spending on child-care and early education is among the lowest of all developed nations. These failings have huge costs: Decades of research have established the link between quality child care and lifelong benefits from academic performance to health outcomes and earning potential.

Not only does high-quality child care benefit children and families, it also brings wider economic benefits, as former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke once

noted: Economically speaking, early childhood programs are a good investment with inflation-adjusted annual rates of return on the funds dedicated to these programs, estimated to reach 10 percent or higher. Very few alternative investments can promise that kind of return.

Trump’s ideas would only make the situation for working parents worse— and poorer families would lose the most. In 2015, 1.8 million people worked in early-childhood care and education in the US compared to 1.1 million in 1990, an increase of 56 percent, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Nationally, 18 percent of those workers are immigrants; in California, it’s one in four.

I have spent most of my adult life in Europe and the UK, where child-care options are more plentiful and often more affordable than in the US. In part due to an abundance of European migrants—but also more government spending in the area—the UK in particular has enjoyed fairly high standards of child care. And yet, thanks to Brexit, Britons may soon get their own taste of the kind of medicine Trump is proposing for the US.

The consequences of inadequate child-care provisioning can already be seen in London. While UK parents generally have more options than American parents, child-care costs in London are a third higher than the national average and there is a chronic undersupply, with only 32 places for each 100 children under five. For those who can afford to pay, London offers a wide range of options at every price point, from basic mother’s helpers to uber-nannies with advanced degrees.

But costs are also growing faster than wages. That’s one reason that maternal employment in London is the lowest of any region in the UK—with 40 percent of mothers citing child care as a key barrier.

A study by the Institute for Public Policy Research concluded that if London could bring maternal employment up to the UK average of 69 percent, then there would be a net gain of 90 million pounds ($106 million) to the Exchequer and 2,200 families would be lifted out of poverty. Trump’s policies would probably reduce already belowaverage levels of maternal employment in the US, too.

There are no hard figures yet on how

many EU migrants are deterred from coming to Britain to take up nannying or child-care jobs, but if the number of EU nurses applying to work in the UK is any guide, there is going to be a dropoff. And the effect will be felt across the sector: Almost six percent of the UK’s 300,000 nursery care workers (not including managers and teachers) are EU migrants. Non-UK nationals make up nearly 9 percent of the total workforce.

Neither in the UK nor the US is anything set in stone. While Brexit may well be irreversible, Prime Minister Theresa May could recognize that ensuring adequate child-care provisions, like ensuring that the National Health Service has access to sufficient numbers of nurses, doctors and other staff, will require higher levels of immigration and at different skill levels, and adjust her hard-line policy to reflect that.

In the US, it’s unlikely that Congress will pass Trump’s plan. Plenty of lawmakers in the president’s own Republican Party oppose such strict limits on legal immigration. But lawmakers should do more than simply reject the proposal: They should explain to American families why it would leave them worse off. Bloomberg

year. Dabs, flecks, lines, call to mind a beach and leave the rest to the viewer’s imagination.

Matisse has two figural works here, both oils—“Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat)” (1905) and “La fille aux yeux verts (The Girl with Green Eyes)” (1908). Both are modernist works that were considering “disquieting” to viewers back then.

The latter, a portrait, is described by critics of the day as “a face crazed by

absinthe drinking.”

Diego Rivera is represented by “Indian Girl with Coral Necklace” (1926, oil on canvas) and “The Flower Carrier” (1935, oil and tempera on Masonite). The former depicts a little girl in native dress, clutching her necklace, tiny bare feet on a red tile floor.

The latter shows two campesinos (peasant farmers): a male in white kneeling on the ground as a woman adjusts a heavy basket of flowers on

his back. The image depicts the backbreaking work of agricultural laborers.

There is much more to see at SF MOMA, including sculptures—Marcel Duchamp’s famed urinal “Fountain” is here, although a refabrication, one of several.

I might not have appreciated the abstract works, preferring those that outright tell stories rather than evoke feelings. But

those who enjoy the genre will have much to admire. For me, it was worth the price of admission to see the lone Kahlo work.

SF MOMA has something for everyone to enjoy, and as a destination it is one of the must-sees in San Francisco.

Dr. Ortuoste is a California-based writer. Follow her on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @jensdecember, @artuoste

World

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UHURU KENYATTA: MILLIONAIRE PLAYBOY TO KENYAN PRESIDENT NAIROBI, Kenya—The son of Kenya’s founding president and a man who epitomizes the country’s elite, Uhuru Kenyatta hopes to win a second and final five-year term in elections on August 8.

The 55-year-old US-educated multimillionaire, whose family owns an array of businesses, properties and tracts of land, followed in his father’s footsteps when he defeated his rival Raila Odinga in 2013.

Kenyatta won that poll despite being indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) along with his running mate, William Ruto, for alleged roles in orchestrating violence that left over 1,100 dead after the previous election in 2007.

Foreign powers, including Britain and the US, warned at the time that Kenya, under an ICC-indicted president, would be a pariah, but the threats proved empty.

In 2014 the ICC dropped charges against Kenyatta—and Ruto later—citing the disappearance of witnesses and lack of evidence.

Since then Kenya has welcomed President Barack Obama, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Pope Francis and hosted a string of international gatherings and conferences. AFP

ROUHANI STARTS NEW TERM FACING REFORM CRITICISM TEHRAN, Iran—Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was set to be inaugurated in front of foreign guests on Saturday, but already faces criticism for reportedly bowing to conservatives in forming a new government.

Rouhani, a 68-year-old cleric considered a political moderate, began his second term on Thursday when he was sworn in by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But Saturday’s ceremony in parliament is the glitzier affair, with guests including EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who has vowed to continue building ties with Iran despite mounting pressure from the United States to keep the Islamic republic isolated.

Some of Iran’s older friends also arrived in Tehran, including Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

The emir of Qatar, which has fallen out with its Gulf allies in part over ties to Iran, was notably absent despite attending Rouhani’s last inauguration in 2013.

But among Iranians, the real attention was on who would be named to Rouhani’s new cabinet.

He has already been barraged with criticism over indications that women would again be entirely absent and that his reformist allies would barely be represented. AFP

MOB ATTACKS INDIA OPPOSITION LEADER GANDHI IN GUJARAT AHMEDABAD, India—Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s car was hit by a stone-throwing mob as he visited a flood-hit region of Gujarat state, with leaders of his party blaming supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A mob carrying black flags tried to stop Gandhi’s convoy Friday and although he was unhurt in the attack, the windows of his car were smashed, television images showed.

Police have detained one man and are investigating the incident, the Press Trust of India reported.

Gandhi himself took to Twitter, saying he was undeterred by the attack.

Scion to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that ruled India for decades through its Congress party, the 47-year-old Gandhi is seeking to revive the party’s fortunes after its ouster in 2014 general elections and a string of defeats in state polls since then.

Several senior Congress leaders accused Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating the attack on Gandhi, who is the Congress vice president.

Gujarat, Modi’s home state, goes to the polls in December with the BJP seeking to retain power.

“Windowpanes of Cong VP’s car broken in an organized attack by goons, security staff injured. BJP must know truth can’t be silenced,” tweeted Randeep Surjewla, a Congress spokesman.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, another Congress leader, said the attack was carried out deliberately by the BJP to create an atmosphere of fear in Gujarat ahead of the polls. AFP

FRENCH PANDA. People look at male giant panda Yuan Zi, eating bamboo inside its enclosure at Beauval zoo in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, central France, on Saturday. There was joy and pain for French zookeepers on Friday as their female panda gave birth to twins, but one died soon afterwards.

Nine-year-old Huan Huan and her male partner Yuan Zi arrived at Beauval zoo in January 2012 on a 10-year loan from China after intense, high-level negotiations between Paris and Beijing. Huan Huan (meaning ‘happy’) and Yuan Zi (‘chubby’) are the only giant pandas living in France. AFP

CHINA IN HIGH-ALTITUDE STANDOFF WITH INDIA B EIJING—China has stepped up its rhetoric in an increasingly tense border row with India, hinting at the possibility of military action in a propaganda push that analysts are calling “genuinely troubling.”

For more than a month, Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a standoff on a remote but strategically important Himalayan plateau near where Tibet, India and Bhutan meet.

On Thursday, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang warned that Beijing had shown restraint but had a “bottom line.”

“No country should underestimate the Chinese forces’... resolve and willpower to defend national sovereignty,” he said in a post on the ministry website.

It is a line that has been echoed almost word for word this week by the foreign ministry, the official Xinhua news agency, the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, the official military news website of the Chinese armed forces, and other

outlets.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministry released a 15-page document of “facts” about the border dispute, which included a map of alleged intrusions and photographs of what it stated were Indian troops and military vehicles on China’s side of the frontier.

Calling for the “immediate and unconditional” withdrawal of Indian troops, it warned Beijing would “take all necessary measures” to safeguard its interests.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Thursday that India was building roads, hoarding supplies and deploying many troops in the area.

“This is by no means for peace,” Geng said.

Mistrust between the giant neigh-

bors goes back centuries and the pair fought a brief war in 1962 in India’s border state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The recent escalation of China’s rhetoric was “genuinely troubling,” Rory Medcalf, head of Australian National University’s National Security College, told AFP. “It suggests that diplomatic conversations, including among highlevel national security advisers, are failing to find a face-saving way for the two powers to withdraw their forces,” he said.

The plateau is strategically significant as it gives China access to the so-called “chicken neck” -- a thin strip of land connecting India’s northeastern states with the rest of the country.

Despite the heated war of words, other analysts played down the possibility of an armed clash.

“The point of these statements isn’t that war is imminent; rather, they’re an attempt to figure out how to not go to war without losing face,” Shen Dingli, vice dean of Fudan University’s Institute of In-

ternational Studies, told AFP. “Neither side wants to go to war, but China and India are acting like two unhappy little children.”

China has rolled out a massive new global infrastructure programme known as the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which it presents as a peaceful development policy to connect Chinese companies to new markets around the world.

Critics see it as a geopolitical powerplay.

President Xi Jinping is set to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a summit of BRICS nations in the Chinese city of Xiamen in early September and has said he hopes for greater cooperation within the bloc.

But he is also gearing up for a key party congress later this year, at which he is expected to further consolidate his grip on power -making him unwilling to appear weak by backing down in the current dispute, said politics professor Yvonne Chiu, who researches China’s military at Hong Kong University. AFP

NEW ASSEMBLY DIVIDING VENEZUELA BEGINS WORK

An opposition activist throws a gas canister at riot police in Caracas on Friday. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro installed a powerful new assembly packed with his allies, dismissing an international outcry and opposition protests saying he is burying democracy in his crisis-hit country. AFP

CARACAS, Venezuela—A new assembly packed with allies of unpopular President Nicolas Maduro and with sweeping powers was to begin work on Saturday, deepening divisions in a crisis-wracked Venezuela.

The Constituent Assembly, headed by a former foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, is tasked with rewriting the 1999 constitution into a charter Maduro has promised will end the turmoil rocking his impoverished yet oil-rich nation.

On Friday, the body took over an ornate chamber under a golden dome in the Legislative Palace in Caracas—at the far end of a building shared with the opposition-run legislature, the National Assembly.

Elected a week ago amid bloody protests and international objections, the Constituent Assembly has powers to override every branch of government, and can dissolve the legislature.

Its detractors say the 545 loyalist members—among them the president’s wife and son—amount to a rubber-stamp entity extending Maduro’s “dictator”-like grip on power.

The United States, the European Union, the Vatican and major Latin American nations including Mexico, Argentina and Chile have all condemned

the new body, saying it undermines democracy and stokes tensions in Venezuela.

Mercosur, a South American trading bloc, was meeting on Saturday in Brazil to decide whether Venezuelan should be suspended from it for “breaching democratic order.”

The legitimacy of the Constituent Assembly has been thrown into question by claims of fraud, most notably by a British-based firm, Smartmartic, which was involved in supplying the technology for the July 30 vote.

Smartmatic said the official turnout figure had been “tampered with” and exaggerated by at least one million voters.

The opposition has vowed to maintain street protests against the assembly, despite being increasingly sidelined and despondent.

Maduro’s security forces have stepped up pressure on dissenters.

The Vatican has urged them to show restraint after a death toll from four months of unrest of 125.

A prominent opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, was thrown back in military prison after the intelligence service roughly ended a brief spell of house arrest granted last month. AFP

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle, Issue Editor

World

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

UN VOTES ON TOUGHER NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS U

NITED NATIONS—The UN Security Council will vote Saturday (Sunday in Manila) on a United States-drafted resolution toughening sanctions on North Korea, diplomats said Friday, a proposed ban on certain exports that could deprive Pyongyang of $1 billion in annual revenue.

After a month of negotiations, the United States reached a deal with China, North Korea’s main trading partner and ally, on the measures aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Pyongyang to halt its missile and nuclear tests.

The Security Council was scheduled to vote at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) Saturday on the new raft of sanctions, diplomats confirmed.

The draft resolution calls for a ban on all exports of coal, iron and

iron ore, lead and lead ore, as well as fish and seafood by the cashstarved state, according to the text seen by AFP. If implemented by all countries, the ban would strip Pyongyang of roughly a third of its export earnings estimated at $3 billion per year, according to a diplomat familiar with the negotiations.

The diplomat, who briefed reporters on the content of the draft, said he had “high confidence” that

China and Russia would support the proposed sanctions.

Backed by its European allies, Japan and South Korea, the United States has been leading the push at the United Nations for tougher sanctions in response to North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4.

A second test on July 28 further raised alarm about Pyongyang’s drive to develop a missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

The draft text would also prevent North Korea from increasing the number of workers it sends abroad, prohibit all new joint ventures and ban new investment in the current joint companies.

North Korea is blamed for a “massive diversion of its scarce resources” toward the development of “nuclear weapons and a number of expensive ballistic missile programs,” the draft resolution said.

The new raft of measures would be the seventh set of UN sanctions imposed on North Korea since it first carried out a nuclear test in 2006, but these have failed to compel Pyongyang to change its behavior.

Two resolutions adopted last year however have introduced economic sanctions with more bite.

The United States has put heavy pressure on China, which accounts for 90 percent of trade with North Korea, to enforce the sanctions.

The proposed resolution would add North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank, the primary foreign exchange bank, to a UN sanctions blacklist, which provides for an assets freeze.

It would also tighten trade restrictions on technology to prevent North Korea from acquiring items that could be used for its military programs. AFP

US TO JOIN CLIMATE DISCUSSIONS DESPITE PARIS ACCORD EXIT WASHINGTON—The United States announced Friday it would still take part in international climate change negotiations to protect its interests, despite its planned withdrawal from the Paris accord on global warming.

Two months after President Donald Trump announced the United States would abandon the 2015 global pact, his administration confirmed it had informed the United Nations of its “intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement” a process that will take at least until 2020.

But in a statement, the State Department said Washington was still committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and engaging with the international community on combating climate change.

“We will continue to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions through innovation and technology breakthroughs, and work with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently and deploy renewable and other clean energy sources,” said the statement. AFP

PROFESSOR, OXFORD EMPLOYEE ARRESTED IN CHICAGO MURDER CHICAGO—US authorities have arrested employees of two prestigious universities accused in the grisly stabbing death of a Chicago hairstylist, following Friday’s nationwide manhunt.

Wyndham Lathem, 42, of Northwestern University in Chicago and Andrew Warren, 56, of Oxford University in England, were in police custody in Oakland, California, according to a tweet from a Chicago police spokesman.

The pair had been named as suspects in the attack that was so brutal the blade of the knife used in the murder had broken off, police said.

Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, a 26-year-old hairstylist, was found dead in a Chicago apartment last week with multiple stab wounds.

Authorities revealed Friday that Lathem had sent a video message to friends and family members apologizing for the crime. AFP

VLAD THE IMPALER. Russian President Vladimir Putin spearfishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture, released by Russian authorities, was taken between August 1 and 3. AFP

AS TROUBLES BREW, TRUMP GOES ON 17-DAY VACATION BEDMINSTER, New Jersey—Donald Trump, who once asked “what’s the point” of vacations and often admonished his presidential predecessor for taking them while in office, embarked Friday on a 17-day holiday to one of his golf resorts.

Arriving in Bedminster, New Jersey for an extended break, the president left behind a capital grappling with a Russia scandal and buffeted by extraordinary leaks from government officials.

He has also failed to seize any major legislative victories in his first seven months in office, and is at odds with several Republican lawmakers on multiple fronts.

The White House said Trump’s Bedminster stay would be a “working vacation,” and cited scheduled upgrades of the West Wing’s creaky heating and cooling system during the steamy Washington summer as a reason why Trump was leaving town.

“The President will continue to work over the next two weeks,” said White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters.

A president taking time off from a hectic schedule is nothing new. But Trump’s down

time is in the spotlight largely because of his relentless criticism of Barack Obama’s breaks from the White House.

He ripped into Obama in 2011 for playing golf and then heading to a 10-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. “Nice work ethic,” Trump tweeted at the time.

“Pres. Obama is about to embark on a 17 day vacation in his ‘native’ Hawaii, putting Secret Service away from families on Christmas. Aloha!,” Trump posted two years later.

Not only did Trump attack Obama, he routinely told supporters he would eschew time off if he were elected because he would be swamped with work.

“I would not be a president who took vacations,” he said in 2015. “I would not be a president that takes time off.”

In late 2012 he tweeted his own apparent aversion to vacations: “What’s the point?

If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re in the wrong job.”

Despite his comments, Trump has taken considerably more time off than Obama in their respective first seven months in office. AFP

COLORFUL. Netflix’s ‘Sense8’ cast member Toby Onwumere (left) poses with a street performer as he attends the Davie Street Block Party on Friday in Vancouver, Canada. AFP

AVALANCHE KILLS WOMAN AS ALPS SUFFER HEATWAVE ROME, Italy—One woman died after her car was swept away by an avalanche of water and mud as a heatwave broke into storms in the Italian Alps, police said Saturday.

The incident occurred overnight near the top ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites range in the northeast of the country.

The car was recovered in a river bed covered in detritus but emergency services were unable to resuscitate the woman.

The tragedy follows the deaths on Thursday of two pensioners, a 79-year-old woman and an 82-year-old man, who were caught up in wild fires in, respectively, the central region of Abruzzo and near Matera in the south of the country.

Fires have been breaking out across Italy because of a heatwave which has seen peak daytime temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) across most of the country for over a week.

Humidity and other factors are making it feel much hotter with the so-called ‘perceived’ temperature in Campania, the region around Naples, estimated at a broiling 55 Celsius (131 Fahrenheit) on Friday.

Hospital admissions are running 15-20 percent above seasonal norms and food producers are forecast to suffer billions of dollars in losses because of reduced crop yields. AFP

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@manilastandard.net

SOFT DRINK TAX TO HIT TANG, KOPIKO Kris Library head Arizza Nocum

FILIPINA SHINES IN HONG KONG CONFERENCE

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SWEETENERS.

Mayora (Vouno Trade and Marketing Services Corp.) regulatory manager Joan Mary Sumpio (left) and Mondelez Philippines Inc. head of corporate and government affairs Shanahan Chua

A

GOVERNMENT attempt to discourage soft drink consumption and raise additional revenues by taxing sugary drinks now threatens to unsettle the entire P147-billion non-alcoholic beverage industry, with prices of instant coffee and powdered juice likely to shoot up by over 50 percent and 200 percent, respectively.

“This is anti-poor. About 92 percent of Filipino households consume instant three-in-one coffee,” says Joan Mary Sumpio, the regulatory manager of Mayora (Vouno Trade and Marketing Services Corp.) which distributes the Indonesian coffee brand Kopiko in the Philippines.

Sumpio says an excise tax of P10 per liter of volume capacity on sugar-sweetened beverages will likely increase the base price of a 25-gram sachet of Kopiko from P5 to P8.

The House of Representatives earlier passed House Bill No. 5636, the first package of tax reforms, which includes the imposition of P10 or P20 excise tax per liter of sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks, sweetened tea, sweetened coffee, carbonated beverages with added sugar, flavored water, energy drinks, sports drinks, powdered drinks not classified as milk, juice, tea and coffee, cereal and grain beverages and non-alcoholic beverages that contain added sugar.

The Department of Finance hopes to raise an additional P47 billion from taxes on sugarsweetened beverages.

The excise tax, however, will not be imposed on milk products, infant formula, milk alternatives (soy milk, almond milk), flavored milk (chocolate milk), 100-percent natural fruit juice, 100-percent vegetable juice, meal replacement, medically indicated beverage, ground coffee and unsweetened tea. Also exempted are drinks made inside coffee shops, juice shops and made by street vendors.

“A lot of products will be slapped with P20 per liter excise tax. So, it’s not just a 100-percent rate maximum increase. It is really over 200 percent just like in the case of Tang. The public needs to be aware that it’s not just the carbonated drink [soft drinks] that will be impacted. There are other beverages like powdered juices and three-in-one coffee which really the target the C, D and E market. The poor will be affected the most,” says Shanahan Chua, head of corporate and government affairs at Mondelez Philippines Inc. which distributes Tang powdered juice in the Philippines.

The proposal is to slap a P10 excise tax on beverages using pure Philippine sugar and P20 on products using other sweeteners. “So, if you look at our product like Tang, the price increase would be P20, because we are a fully imported finished good. We are going to be taxed P20, so the base price of a 25-gram sachet of powdered juice that could make a 1-liter drink would increase from P9 or P11 including VAT at sari-sari stores to over P30. “That is about a 200-percent price increase,” Chua says.

“For Tang, our consumers are mostly C, D and E market. I don’t think the D and E consumers will be able to afford over P30 Tang. They have been buying it for less than P11 at sari-sari stores,” says Chua.

Chua says an excise tax of P20 per liter of volume capacity on SSBs will be the highest in the world, exceeding P15 a liter in Norway and P9 a liter in the US. Mayora and Mondelez are among the 13 member-companies of the Beverage Industry Association of the Philippines, which operates more than 100 manufacturing sites with over 35,000 direct employees and P130 billion in investments in the country.

Chua says about 80 percent of the consumers of SSBs are low-income earners. Data show that carbonated beverages alone account for 31 percent of sari-sari store sales.

A UA&P economic impact study of the SSB bill says the measure will hurt sugar and coffee farmers, and sari-sari store owners. “Based on UA&P study, we’re looking at around 30-percent impact on revenue. In the end, it’s our consumers who would be impacted,” says Chua.

Sumpio, a nutritionist by profession, also

contests the reason for taxing SSBs, saying there is no concrete study linking sweetened drinks to obesity or diabetes in the Philippines. She says Filipinos’ per capita consumption of nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages is insignificant compared to other countries.

A study shows that the annual beverage per capita consumption in the Philippines was only 160 servings (8 ounces per serving), compared to over 600 servings in Mexico and over 500 servings in the US. Sumpio says that of the 192 countries in the world obesity index of the World Health Organization, the Philippines ranks only at 155th.

“Based on national studies, the contribution of sugar to total grams of food intake among Filipinos is low, and it will be lower if you convert it into caloric contribution. It is not enough to be a direct cause of diabetes or obesity,” says Sumpio.

Chua says the UA&P impact study based on AC Nielsen data also shows that the proposed tax will result in reduced government revenues, economic contraction and job losses. The study forecasts a P20-billion decline in sales of SSBs, P51-billion drop in revenue of related industries, a loss of 133,750 direct jobs, 1.5-percent increase in unemployment rate, P30-billion loss in revenue from VAT and corporate income tax and a total of P63 billion in economy-wide losses.

Chua says the tax computation should be based on the sugar content and not on the whole volume of the product.

“Generally, if we look at the volumetric tax rate, it applies differently across our products. It is not targeting the sugar content. It is per liter, and our 25-gram sachet makes one liter. Regardless of how much sugar you have in the product, you are taxed at the end product. So technically, they are also taxing the water,” says Chua.

Sumpio agrees, saying “technically, 85 percent of what they are taxing is water.”

Chua says sugar accounts for less than 2 grams of a 100-milliliter glass of Tang juice. “That’s around 20 calories per serving,” he says.

Both Chua and Sumpio says the excise tax, at its current form, will hurt the sales of Kopiko and Tang. “Coffee is a very price sensitive category.

A 50-percent price increase could result in a 40-percent decline in sales,” says Sumpio.

“The Philippines is a very price sensitive Turn to C2

MARVIN AGUSTIN BRINGS GEN KOREAN BBQ HOUSE TO MANILA

Actor Marvin Agustin leads the opening of GEN Korean BBQ House at SM by the Bay.

EXCELLO Restaurant Management Group of actor Marvin Agustin has expanded its list of restaurants in the Philippines, with the opening of an ‘all-youcan-eat’ Korean barbecue restaurant at SM by the Bay along Seaside Boulevard within the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.

GEN Korean BBQ House, which originated in the sunny California and is famous for top-of-the-line and premium meat and seafood, has made its way across the Pacific and landed on Manila shores, becoming the latest foreign brand brought to the country by Agustin’s Excello group.

Agustin’s business partners in Excello are Raymund Magdaluyo and Leina Bolinas.

David K im, the founder of GEN Korean BBQ House and senior corporate manager

David Ghim, attended the opening of the first Philippine outlet, which is also the brand’s first location outside the US. “We are very happy for this brand. We are happy for the presence of the owners from the USA. Thank you very much,” says Agustin.

The restaurant has a modern ambiance of a blacklit restaurant, replicating the design of US locations.

It offers over 20 meat options paired with side dishes including kimchi.

“Walking into the Manila branch will feel exactly the same as if you were on the West Coast,” Excello says in a statement.

The restaurant is open from 10 a.m. to 12 midnight on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends.

Marielle Franchesca Santiago

A YOUNG Filipina social media marketer and peace advocate represented the Philippines in a prestigious five-day international youth leaders forum in Hong Kong.

Arizza Nocum, 22, of KristiyanoIslam Peace or Kris Library, was invited by Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups to share her knowledge and experiences with local young leaders in the “Leaders to Leaders 2017 Summer” program on Aug. 1 to 5.

Nocum, who was asked to discuss the issues of poverty and education to more than 1,000 students and working youths, is one of the five eminent global leaders from different countries picked by HKFYG, the city’s largest youth service organization.

The other speakers from Singapore, Hong Kong and Jordan talked about climate change, women empowerment, public speaking and social investments.

“I am both proud and humbled to be invited here to discuss the intertwined issue of poverty and education,” Nocum said, citing the impact of poverty to the global problem of lack of access to quality education among the youth.

“It would be an honor and a great achievement for us to impart to the young people of Hong Kong our works and experiences in the KRIS Library.

Together, we can make this world a better place for everyone,” she said.

Born to a Catholic father and a Tausug mother, Nocum is the overall head of Kris Library, a non-profit organization that aims to promote peace through education by building libraries, providing scholarships, and distributing educational materials in areas affected by poverty and conflict.

Thus far, Kris has built six libraries, provided more than 400 scholarships and spread more than 50,000 books and computers.

A magna cum laude graduate of UP Diliman College of Engineering, Nocum also serves as a junior partner and head of the social media arm of the public relations firm Dean & Kings Communications run by her father, former Philippine Daily Inquirer journalist Armand Dean Nocum.

The young Nocum is also active in the international campaign to fight violent extremism; she represented the Philippines in Geneva last year as one of the 10 young leaders selected from different countries to serve as peace ambassadors of the Kofi Annan Foundation.

The organization was founded by former United NationsSecretary General Kofi Annan in 2007 to promote better global governance and strengthen the capacities of people and countries to achieve peace.

Nocum was selected as one of Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines in February 2017.

She was also named the youth awardee during the 2017 Inspiring Filipina Entrepreneurs Awards organized by “Go Negosyo”, the advocacy of the non-profit organization Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship, in March.

Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship and Asean Business Advisory Council chair Joey Concepcion cited Nocum “for championing the advocacy of erasing animosity between the Catholics and Muslims through education,” especially in Mindanao.

Business

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 business@manilastandard.net

SOFT DRINK...

From C1

market,” says Chua. He says companies have introduced products in smaller packages and sachet in the Philippines so that more Filipinos could avail of them.

“Modelez and all other members of BIAP are very supportive of what the government wants to happen about raising revenues to support its ‘Build, build, build’ projects. It’s really for the Filipinos. But from Modelez’s perspective, we really need to look at, study and have more time to asses if it is the right taxation,” says Sumpio.

“Is the volumetric tax the right one or will it be more fair and equitable if you look at the sugar content. Let’s look at the fair and equitable way of taxing it so that it would not discourage the whole industry,” Chua says.

“On average I think we are looking at a 40-percent to 75-percent sales volume decline, and that’s significant.

And that would impact upstream and downstream sari-sari stores,” says Chua.

Chua says there is also a danger that consumers will shift to more affordable but informal products which are not property handled such as ‘sago’ and ‘gulaman’ peddled by street vendors.

“What will happen is that consumers will look for alternatives or those unregulated without any assurance of food safety. And it may actually cause food-borne illnesses,” he says.

“We are not against taxation per se, but let us really assess its impact on businesses and consumers,” says Chua.

Sumpio says sugar drinks tax can also have an impact on nutrition in the Philippines. “Filipinos are food insecure.

A part of the National Nutrition Survey shows that 13 million households or 60 million Filipinos belong to the food insecure group. So increasing the prices of food products will contribute to food insecurity,” she says.

Sumpio says instead of taxing sugar to avoid obesity, the government should encourage lifestyle change among inactive Filipinos. “A Food and Nutrition Research Institute study shows that nearly 50 percent of Filipinos are inactive,” she says. Roderick T. dela Cruz, Marielle Franchesca Santiago

CHINESE COMPANIES SHOWCASE MACHINERIES THE Philippines and China continue to strengthen bilateral relations as both countries experience unprecedented growth in political and regional cooperation, trade, investment, tourism and agriculture with the total exports of the Philippines to China growing by 14 percent in the first five months of the Duterte administration.

For the past thirteen years, one trade show has been making sure that Philippine companies get the chance to explore business opportunities with the Asian tiger.The China Machinery and Electronics Brand Show is a trade event aimed at connecting Chinese manufacturers with potential distributors and importers in the Philippines.

It will be back with an even bigger showcase on Aug. 17 to 19 at the SMX Convention Center Manila in Mall of Asia Complex.

The organizers behind the said event is the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, an organization that is composed of more than 10,000 leading manufacturers and trading companies engaged in import and export business of machinery and electronic products.

With the show generating hundreds of visitors and exhibitors, it is set to feature products and equipment from industry sectors such as agricultural m a c h i n e r y, b u i l d i n g m ate r i a l s, co m m e rc i a l ve h i c l e, c o n s u m e r electronics, hardware products, household appliances, industrial machinery, labor protection products, power and electrical tools, power tools, new energy & lighting products, water technology and more.

“Over the years, the show has generated numerous amounts of business deals, all happening in under one roof. The show successfully provided a platform for Chinese enterprises and their Philippine counterparts. We, China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, as the organizer of this event, want our visitors and exhibitors to take advantage of this wide opportunity for companies to exceed their business potentials in this growing industry,” said Zhang Yujing, president of CCCME.

COMPANY GIVES EMPLOYEES CHANCE TO GET COLLEGE DEGREE

I

T IS never too late to finish school for three employees of a Laguna-based property developer. Regardless of various circumstances, earning a degree is a must for Ma. Theresa Amante, Jennalyn Borromeo and Reynelyn De Roxas who are full-time employees at real estate company P.A. Alvarez Properties and Development Corp.

Amante, 50 and a supervisor at the finance and treasury department of Laguna-based P.A. Properties, earned her BS Accountancy degree from San Pedro College of Business Administration in May this year –about 30 years since she stopped schooling to serve as a cashier in her father’s jueteng (illegal numbers game) operations.

“The money was good [from jueteng]. Since I started earning already and I got married, I didn’t pursue my studies anymore,” Amante said in Filipino, recalling that she only reached second year-college then, taking up BS Business Administration.

Having a baby and dealing with financial constraints were factors that delayed her return to school, said Borromeo, 27, a purchasing assistant at the purchasing and warehousing department of P.A. Properties. She first completed a caregiving program for a year, and in May 2017, earned her BSBA Human Resource Development Management degree, also from Laguna-based SPCBA. For De Roxas, 27, a documentation staff for P.A. Properties’ conversion and retention department, having an associate degree in Computer Science was not enough so she returned to school in 2015, taking up BSBA Marketing Management also at SPCBA. Amante had a lot going on against her – from becoming an employee to returning to school.

She said that she lost her jueteng job when the government started cracking down on the illegal numbers game. She was only two months short of completing her payment for a lot she purchased from P.A. Properties. Thus, she approached the owner, the late Pelagio A. Alvarez, saying that she would not be able to pay on time anymore.

She approached again the Alvarez patriarch (fondly called Tatay), this time, with her resume in hand, and asked if she could apply for a job.

Tatay told her that he would ask his son, now P.A. Properties chairman Romarico “Bing” Alvarez.

“I didn’t finish school. I only knew how to debit and credit. I didn’t know how to use a typewriter.

I was only holding on to Tatay’s trust. Still, Boss Bing agreed to hire me. [And] it was a major adjustment for me,” Amante recalled how she started her 21 years in P.A. Properties.

Thus, Amante took the initiative to study basic computer skills; learn about MS Excel from the younger employees; and seek help to simply use a printer. She eventually explored prospects for advancing her career in the company.

“But to be eligible, one must have earned a four-year degree, so despite reservations, I went

P.A. Properties #BalikEskwela employees (from left) Jennalyn Borromeo, Ma. Theresa Amante and Reynelyn De Roxas share the joys and struggles of being working students. back to school,” she said, letting her two children graduate first before her turn.

Amante, Borromeo and De Roxas kept shifting work schedule or filing for undertime so they could attend their classes in the afternoon (all weekdays, at times Saturdays included).

They also have to sprint to the 4th floor to make it on time for their class or else, dash to the classroom in a dramatic fashion; or catch their breath and rush to answer the remaining questions in a day’s surprise quiz.

There were instances also that some of their younger, full-time co-students excluded them from group project or thesis, thinking they would not be of any help at all since they were working students.

Amante recalled that her blood pressure rose twice and she was also hospitalized while studying, proving that it was indeed challenging to juggle work and school – to submit her monthly report or review for her mid-term examinations, she illustrated.

But she kept in mind what P.A. Properties president Jonathan Lu told her: The boat will not sail smoothly if you are the one weighing it down. “I wouldn’t like to be phased out, to be outdated, thus I really needed to upgrade myself,” Amante said.

Borromeo, who has been with the company for five years, said it also helped that her colleagues in the company applied reverse psychology on her. “I really wanted to quit then because I was getting sick, I was missing time for my six-year-old kid. But they said, ‘it’s up to you. It’s not our money, our time spent, anyway,’” she said.

For De Roxas, completing her education is also about making her a more relevant member of the company, thus she is taking up a degree

that is aligned with P.A. Properties’ line of business. She has been with the company for seven years now.

The three P.A. Properties’ employees also acknowledge that very helpful professors, classmates and understanding family members motivated them to push through.

The three P.A. Properties’ employees also give credit to the company’s top management, as well as their people managers, for their consideration and encouragement. Some colleagues also offered to cover for them so they could review for their crucial exams.

The company, known for its low- to mediumcost housing projects in Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, and Metro Manila also supports educational activities as part of its corporate responsibility efforts.

In June, P.A. Properties’ #BalikEskwela initiative donated school supplies to elementary students of Gulod, Laguerta, Tagapo, and Langgam public schools in Laguna – schools that are within the community were select developments of the company are located.

Amante, who is now reviewing for her certified public accountant exams in September, is thankful that the Alvarez family behind P.A. Properties have been supportive of her goals to finish school, and shared that the chairman offered to shoulder her review tuition and other expenses.

Borromeo said what also motivated her to continue is her dream of wearing a black toga (academic dress of robe, hood, and cap usually donned during graduation ceremonies). “I’m told we couldn’t wear the black toga when I finished my Caregiving program because it wasn’t a full degree. So I told myself that one day, ‘I’m going to wear that black toga.’ I finally did.”

PH EYES ISRAELI DRONES TO ASSIST GROUND TROOPS

The Hermes 450 is a common medium surveillance UAV. S TAT E - O F - T H E - A R T d r o n e s o r unmanned aerial vehicles will soon be dotting the skies of the Philippines with President Rodrigo Duterte announcing that he would accept the offer of UAVs made by Israeli defense manufacturer Elbit Systems.

In a press conference held at the House of Representatives shortly after his second State-of-the-Nation Address, Duterte said he was earlier offered two high altitude UAVs that could fly beyond the reach of bullets and survey the ground beneath, acting as the eyes in the sky of ground troops and police forces as they come into the battlefield.

He said that the troops will now be able to study the high definition reconnaissance images provided by the high flying drones before they leave their camps to patrol.

The president was referring to the two UAVs that was demonstrated to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police by Elbit Systems in Lipa City, Batangas and offered in a government-to-government procurement arrangement with Israel.

The two UAVs, a Hermes 900 and a smaller Hermes 450, are cutting edge military drones that are technologically on par with, or even better than, US military drones such as the Predator and Global Hawk.

The Hermes 900 has a remarkable flight endurance of 72 hours—or three full days in the air—and can carry various military payloads, including high definition thermal imaging devices that can scan and detect any enemy presence 24/7, day and night and even in inclement weather. These

Elbit’s Hermes 900 MALE UAV can provide unparalleled battlefield awareness and eliminate the possibility of ambushes, as well as allow quick and well-informed reaction for reinforcing and responding forces.

The high-tech UAV can also perform laser designating for high-precision smart ammunition, allowing pin-point air and artillery strikes and eliminating the possibility of ‘friendly-fire’ casualties or collateral damage similar to what happened at different stages in the Marawi conflict.

Israel has been the pioneer in military drones and the Israel Defense Forces has been using them extensively over the decades, which explains the renowned accuracy of their precision strikes and their relatively few casualties (compared to their enemies) in recent battles and skirmishes.

In fact, the highly reliable Hermes 450 accounted for a noteworthy 52 percent of the flight hours of the Israeli Air Force in 2016. Together with the bigger Hermes 900, the two account for about 70 percent flight hours of the Israeli Air Force. For unmanned flight hours of the Israeli Air Force, the two easily chalks 80 percent to 85 percent.

The president said that he wants to buy more of these high-altitude drones as part of the AFP modernization even as he prepares the Armed Forces for war footing vs. terrorists and the communists.

The UAVs are expected to prevent large scale losses of police and military armed personnel and could easily turn the tides of war in favor of the government.

Sports

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 reuelvidal@yahoo.com

SPORTS NOT LIMITED TO ELITE ATHLETES

By Randy Caluag

I

Janelle Frayna

T LOOKS like a bigger community will have the last laugh when the government decided not to push through with the hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

The big chunk of the money that will be saved, according to Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William Ramirez, will be used for community sports projects.

Some of the government’s grassroots and sports-for-all projects are the Laro’t Saya sa Parke program, featuring the sports of arnis, basketball, boxing, chess, taekwondo, volleyball, table tennis and zumba, and the Children’s Games.

More than the competitive side of the sports, the PSC is promoting large-scale participation to help the government in promoting an active lifestyle among Filipino families.

“We will focus more on community sports and the grassroots (program),” said Marc Velasco, director of the Philippine Sports Institute, which has sports coordinators all over the country to implement the PSC’s thrusts to spread sports participation down to the farthest community.

This is a clear statement that government budget for sports is not just meant of elite athletes. Ordinary citizen are now given more platforms and avenues to play and enjoy sports.

The most recent Laro’t Saya sa Parke program was participated in by hundreds of enthusiasts in Tagum City in Mindanao.

LSP is a park-based sports program of the PSC aiming to draw Filipino families into play and sports.

“It’s the community’s gain and we really feel good that we make thousands of Filipinos happy,” added Velasco.

Sports against drugs

Another community-based sports that’s gaining popularity among local governments (LGUs) is the Kabataan Iwas-Droga which had its inaugural event in Bacoor, Cavite.

Hundreds of students participated in badminton and chess clinics while local barangay officials joined in pencak silat and zumba.

When the talks about the 2019 hosting were still upbeat, Clark in Pampanga was being offered to be

INT’L CHESS: FRAYNA FINISHES IN 5-WAY TIE AT 11TH PLACE

Teens try the Filipino martial sports of arnis during the Laro’t Saya sa Parke program in Tagum City.

the main hub.

Now, the PSC is more keen on renovating and building sports facilities in the provinces. ``We thought in two years we could build facilities for the SEA Games in 2019 and we planned to take it at Clark Green City,’’ said Ramirez.``But there are many areas that need sports facilities and sports programs that we feel that the PSC should address,’’ said Ramirez.

While the PSC had already announced the government’s pullout from the hosting job, the POC is not yet giving up.

There are plans for the national sports associations under the POC umbrella to hold talks with President Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider the government’s position.

POC president Peping Cojuangco is also toying with the idea of getting the local governments, especially the governors, to take charge of the Games, although proceeding with it is still needs the support of the national government. ``We also share in the fervor of all peace-loving Filipinos to protect our country’s reputation even in the face of adversity. As such, we wish to promote the Philippines as a beautiful place and safe haven for international events,’’ added Co-

Boys, dreaming to become future world champion like Manny Pacquiao, get free training from coaches provided by Laro’t Saya program

juangco, who is batting for sports tourism.

Cojuangco said the hosting (of the Games) will show the world the tenacity of the Philippines in the midst of challenges. ``We need the 2019 SEA Games to help generate more tourism receipts and invite leisure and business travelers from around the world. It is in this light that we appeal to the President to support the hosting of the Games,’’ said Cojuangco.

Hundreds of youth in Bacoor City get free sports training to help fight against drug addiction in the community

KL Games

Meanwhile, the country is preparing hard for the coming edition of the biennial meet happening on August 19-31 in Kuala, Lumpur Malaysia.

The Philippines set out to the games with 498 athletes out to better its 7th place finish the last time out.

Out of the 405 gold medals at stake, Philippine officials, led by chef the mission Cynthia Carrion, are looking hoping to get at least 50 gold medals.

Carrion said the gilts are expected to come from athletics, boxing, billiards, taekwondo, triathlon, wushu and team events rugby and basketball.

Even as the PSC is putting more efforts to grassroots program, it is keeping its vow to fully support the elite athletes.

It is spending P86.7 million for the athlete’s participation in the KL Games. “We will continue to support our national athletes who make us proud in the global stage, even as we also focused on grassroots development,” said Ramirez.

On Thursday, the PSC and POC will jointly hold a sendoff party for the Filipino athletes competing in the KL SEA Games.

JANELLE Mae Frayna downed Germans Nguyen Ha Tranh and Tiffany KInzel in the final two rounds to finish in a five-way tie at 11th spot in the just concluded Women’s International Open in Erfurt, Germany.

A day after dropping two straight games, Frayna, the country’s first Filipina Woman Grandmaster, vented her ire on Nguyen in the eighth round and then Kinzel in the last to end up in a five-player logjam at No. 11 with Czech WIMs Kristyna Havlikova and Karolina Olsarova, Russian WIM Elena Sazanova and German Antonia Ziegenfuss with 5.5 points apiece.

After the tiebreakers, Frayna wound up 13th overall.

The final win surge made up for a pair of painful defeats in the sixth and seventh rounds to fourth seed and WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova of Ukraine and German Linda Krumina.

Frayna zoomed to an unbeaten start highlighted by a win over WGM Galina Strutinskaia of Russia and three draws against WGMs Joanna Majdan of Poland and Ilze Berzina of Latvia and Woman International Master Nino Khomeriki of Georgia.

Her other win came at the expense of German Victoria Wagner of Germany in the opening round.

The Erfurt tilt is Frayna third tournament since she embarked on an ambitious European campaign with an aim of barging into the top 10 in the world’s women’s rankings and become the first male GM in the Philippines.

Frayna’s European campaign is being bankrolled by Philippine Sports Commission chair William “Butch” Ramirez with backing from the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, FEU’s Aurelio Montinola, The Philippine Star’s Miguel Belmonte and Edward Go, Senate President Koko Pimentel and Bobby Ang.

SISON TOPS 3RD PLARIDEL GOLF

TOP WINNERS. Gene Sison (4th from left) emerged overall champion at the 3rd Plaridel Cup golf tournament held Aug. 4 at the Wack Wack golf course. With Sison are the other winners: Dino Datu (lowest net), Ariel Javiloza (class A champion), Zaldy Carpeso (class A runner-up), Paolo Legaspi (class B champion), Roland Lallana (class B runner-up), Danny Dunca (class C champion), Ray Enaño (class C runner-up), and Cora Aguinaldo (ladies champion).

GENE Sison of The Turf Company fired a 72 gross score to win Lowest Gross and emerge the overall Champion, while Dino Datu trailed with a net 68 to win Low Net at the 3rd Plaridel Cup golf tournament held on August 4 at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City.

Ariel Javiloza came home with a net 68 to win top class A honors.

Runner-up was Zaldy Carpeso also with a net 68.

Class B champion was Paolo Legaspi with a net 69, followed by Roland Lallana with net 70.

The top finishers in class C were Danny Dunca (71) and Ray Enano (72).

Cora Aguinaldo emerged Ladies Champion with a net 71.

Special awards went to Jomel Gomez for Nearest to the Pin (six feet) at Hole no. 3; Gene Sison for

Accurate Drive (two feet to the line) at Hole no. 13; and Roland Rotoni for Longest Drive (250 yards) at Hole no. 13.

The 3rd Plaridel Cup was sponsored by San Miguel Corporation, Oriental Group, Philippine Airlines, Pagcor, Social Security System, Stradcom, Philex Mining Corp., GMA Network, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Ayala Land, Cherrylum, SM Investment, International Container Terminal Services Inc., Globe Telecom, Manila Water, Emperador Deluxe, Vitamax, Optimum, South Forbes and The Turf Company.

Media partners include Manila Standard, Market Monitor and Business Mirror.

The Plaridel Cup is an annual golf tournament of the Association of Philippine Journalists—Samahang Plaridel Foundation Inc.

PLARIDEL CUP. Rolando Estabillo (right), president of Samahang Plaridel; Roland Schissau (center), deputy head of mission of German Embassy; and James Jimenez, Comelec spokesman, do the honors at the ceremonial tee off at Wack Wack golf course to start the 3rd Plaridel Cup last Aug. 4.

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Sports

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Reuel Vidal, Issue Editor / Randy Caluag, Issue Editor

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

HE’S HOME. Alaska Milk president and CEO Wilfred Steven Uytengsu says he’s home as he invites children at Mactan Elementary School to live a healthy lifestyle by engaging in sports and starting the day right with a nutritious breakfast with milk. Jamil Buergo

UYTENGSU COMES HOME TO CEBU

MEET THE PROS. Some of the top professional triathletes in world gather during the press launch of the 2017 Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 Philippines at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa, yesterday, Aug. 5.

By Reuel Vidal

REED TARGETS COBRA IRONMAN THREE-PEAT

L

APU-LAPU CITY, Cebu —This year’s biggest and best triathlon competition in the country, the 2017 Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 Philippines, reels off today, Sunday at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa with defending champion Tim Reed eyeing a rare “three-peat” against an elite field.

Reed wore down worldclass competitors to rule the first IRONMAN 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship.

He also won the contest the year before to complete a back-to-back romp in the 1.9k-swim, 90k-bike, 21-k run event at the Ironman 70.3 here.

Reed likes his chances to gain a third consecutive title but conceded that this year has the toughest field of rivals yet, led by his compatriot Tim Van Berkel, the winner of this year’s IRONMAN 70.3 Vietnam, as well reigning Xterra world titlist Mauricio Mendez of Mexico and three-time Regent 5150 winner Sam Betten.

“This time of the year, I’m extremely fit. I built my season getting strong and ready to race. I saw the start list and it makes me excited. When you got good guys alongside you, they push you to a level you wouldn’t do if they weren’t there. We’ll make each other race a lot better,” said Reed.

The Australian is already one of the best in the world but actually continues to improve every year. Not known

to be the best swimmer in triathlon competitions Reed surprised all the experts during the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship on the Sunshine Coast of Australia with a powerful swim leg and eventual victory.

Close to 3,000 triathletes from a record field of 52 countries will see action in the country’s premier triathlon produced and organized

by Sunrise Events, Inc. with title sponsor Cobra Energy Drink and backed by presentor Tourism Promotions Board Philippines and Summit Natural Drinking Water, the official hydration partner.

Elite professionals and the best age groupers will compete not just for the top $5,000 purse in the men’s and women’s divisions but also for 30 coveted slots in the world tilt slated in Mandela Bay, South Africa next year.

Sunrise Events founder and Alaska Milk president and CEO Wilfred Steven Uytengsu said the competition has grown from just a race to a social and economic event which benefits the public.

Tim Reed raises his hands in triumph after winning his first Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 in this file photo.

“We’ve changed so many lives. These are people who came out of the couch to swim, run and bike. We are creating a healthier nation.

We’re welcoming tourists through sports tourism not

just in Cebu but throughout Philippines,” said Uytengsu.

“All these are made possible because of the support of the sponsors like Cobra Energy Drink who have been with us all of these years as

well as the outstanding cast of professional triathletes who come to Cebu year in and year out.”

Among these professional triathletes are Braden Currie, Eddie Rawles and Callum Millward of New Zealand, David Mainwaring, Alexander Polizzi and Luke Bell of Australia, Americans Brad Williams and Iain Alexandridis, Czech Jakub Langhammer, Johan Stofberg of South Africa, Italian Jonathan Ciavatella and Eric Watson of Bahrain who are all eager to beat Reed.

Dimity-Lee Duke, in the absence of perennial champion Caroline Steffen who will compete in the relay instead of the full race, looms as the woman to beat.

Providing Duke plenty of challenge for the women’s crown are Jacqueline Thisleton, Alise Selsmark, Kirra Seidel, Monica Juhart and Kerry Mulholland, Hungarian Anna Eberhardt, New Zealand’s Amelia Watkinson.

Local bet Kim Kilgroe will participate although a realistic goal for her is to improve on her 10th place finish in her rookie season last year.

“I’m feeling good. I am excited to be back racing with amazing athletes. I am grateful to be with this kind of caliber field. I am proud to represent my heritage. It’s an exciting weekend for me and I’m looking forward to it,” said Kilgroe.

IT’S more than just business.

If you were to ask Alaska Milk president and CEO Wilfred Steven Uytengsu the secret of his success then that would be the answer.

Whether it’s building Alaska Milk from a manufacturing company to the empire it is now. Or building the Ironman brand from a niche sport to the pervasive and fastest growing participation sport in the Philippines. Uytengsu’s success is about going the extra mile and doing more than conventional wisdom dictates.

His philosophy is about involving people. It’s about building relationships.

It’s about bringing back to the community and helping children grow and become the best they could be.

The Cobra Ironman 70.3 will hold its sixth season in Cebu and the ninth overall and Uytengsu has come home Cebu to involve the entire province in his endeavor.

It’s not surprising therefore that the first activity is going to the Mactan Elementary School to treat students in Grades 4, 5 and 6 to a nutritious breakfast of champorado and Alaska Milk with the run out from Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa by the participants of the 2017 Alaska IronKids and professional triathletes competing in the 2017 Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3.

Facing a sea of red – with teachers, students and parents all clad in red tshirts – Uytengsu thanked the school officials for the warm reception and engaged the children. He said coming to Cebu always felt like a homecoming.

“I was born in Cebu and I’m always glad to be back. I’m happy to hold both the Iron Kids and the Cobra Ironman here regularly and I hope that one day soon one of you kids will not only participate but win the event. In the meantime, study hard, stay in school and always drink your milk,” said Uytengsu.

Superintendent Marilyn Andales, Mactan Elementary School Principal Jojo Rosales, all the teachers and Grade 4, 5 and 6 students, in turn welcomed the triathletes.

Andales thanked Alaska Milk for the visit as well as for teaching the value of starting the day right, with exercise in the morning followed by a nutritious and healthy breakfast of milk.

Jean Pagobo, one of the teachers, along with some of the students presented a play which enumerated the important nutrients derived from a nutritious breakfast which included milk.

Finally, the teachers and all the students, who turned the yard of the school into a virtual sea of red, performed a dance number choreographed by Pagobo and Kenny Roger Bactol to the tune of “Alaska Gatas for Breakfast.” The event concluded with a milk toast and a healthy nutritious breakfast for the children and the teachers courtesy of Alaska Milk.

FAMILIAR FACES RULE 2017 ALASKA IRONKIDS

By Patricia Bianca Taculao

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu—Young triathletes Juan Francisco “Wacky” Baniqued and Tara Borlain concluded their IronKids career with pride as they won their respective final races in the 2017 Alaska IronKids triathlon held at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa. Baniqued finished with a time of 38:50 in the male age 13 to 14 category and Borlain dominated the female category with 41:34.

Despite the triumph of the young athlete from Biñan, he almost lost the title to Joseff Miguel Quirino who also finished with a time of 38:50. Quirino sprinted at the homestretch but a photo finish review showed Baniqued

winning the race.

Baniqued admitted that the competition was getting tougher and the 2017 tournament taught him that he should not underestimate his fellow competitors.

“My goal was to lead in the swim, bike and run until the finish line because that’s what I did last year. I had a one-minute gap ahead of my competitors at the second transition and protected the gap until the finish line,” Baniqued said.

Adrian Thomas Dionisio finished third with a time of 38:58.

While Baniqued felt the challenge of the swim-bike-run event, Borlain breezed through the race course and reached the finish line with a lead of four minutes and thirteen seconds over

the next IronKids finisher, Nicole Marie Del Rosario.

Borlain did not experience any trouble throughout the race but confessed that she found the bike ride challenging due to the winding the road.

Marielle Estreba finished third with a time of 45:36.

This will be the last IronKids competition for both Borlain and Baniqued who reached the age limit.

Still, it is not the end for Baniqued and Borlain since they both plan to continue participating in other triathlons.

Hyonde Keum won the boys 11 to 12 years old category with a time of 35:28. Glendwyn Giles (36:22) finished second while Matthew Justine Hermosa (36:40) finished third.

Moira Frances Erediano (34:25) won the girls 11 to 12 age group. Sophia Psalm Belican (34:32) and Jesma Marille Caneta (35:03) finished second and third.

Winners in the boys 9 to 10 years old category are Beboy Dolan (24:29), first; John Christian Pabuaya (27:21), second; and Michael Gabriel Lozada (27:22), first. Winners in the girls 9 to 10 years old category are Kira Ellis (28:16); Alexeis Gunhuan (28:41); and Franchezka Borlain (30:04).

Rafael Jopson (17:38) won the boys 9 to 10 years old. Van Wincy Pagnanawon (18:02) was second while Ryonde Keum (19:57) was third. Winners in the girls’ 6 to 8 years old are Kyle Emialle Toledano (21:18); Eleora Calle Avanzad (22:50); and Mireille Dee (25:21).

Wacky Baniqued (right) and Joseff Miguel Quirino finish almost at a dead heat. Photo finish review eventually showed Baniqued as the winner. Marielle C. Santos

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017

Jimbo Gulle, Editor

Roger Garcia, Issue Editor

LGUs

mslocalgov@gmail.com

QC ENGAGES RECYCLERS WITH PAYATAS NEAR LIMIT

By Rio N. Araja

T

HE Quezon City Environment Protection and Waste Management Department has invited more than 700 recyclers for a solid waste and management forum under the “Zero Litter in QC Project.”

The forum is scheduled to run until Aug.11 and will be held at Bulwagang Amoranto, Quezon City Hall.

According to Remelito Hirang, chief of the EPWMD monitoring, inspection and enforcement section, records show there are more than 700 junk shops in Quezon City, and only 80 of them have registered their business.

In the solid waste management forum held on Tuesday, the EPWMD recognized the role of the formal and informal sector recyclers in the overall waste reduction and diversion effort of the city.

The forum aims to enable the recyclers to

proactively participate in the environmental management policies, programs and projects as well as with the social facet of local administration.

Apart from their role in waste management, the recyclers also learned about City Ordinance No. 2350-2014 also known as “The Quezon City Environment Code.”

“We will organize, empower, and teach them on how to operate, especially on the health and sanitation aspects. We will support them fully,” Hirang said.

The city government, in a private-public partnership scheme, is also planning to build a recycling facility where all wastes collected by all junk shops will be recycled.

Recycling became even more important for the city as on Friday, a high-ranking Quezon City official said the Payatas dump is already nearing its limit.

City administrator Aldrin Cuña said, the city government is now preparing for the eventual closure of the Payatas landfill by the end of 2017 to save lives.

“We are preparing for its closure this year, but the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has to decide where we will dump

our waste. As of now, there is still no designated area,” he added.

The EPWMD, headed by Frederika Rentoy, requested the MMDA to reopen the Payatas sanitary landfill after ordering a temporary closure on July 27. The closure was brought about by the continuous rains.

The MMDA also instructed the EPWMD to suspend the operations of the Payatas dump.

Rentoy said the heavy rains made the access roads in the landfill muddy and slippery, making it difficult for garbage trucks to safely maneuver.

During the dump’s closure, the city’s collected garbage was diverted to two sanitary landfills —District 1, 3 and 4’s wastes to Vitas, Tondo in Manila, and Districts 2, 5 and 6’s to Rodriguez, Rizal.

“The collection of Vitas takes five to eight hours before the truck could get back [to Payatas]. There is really a delay in the collection.

Despite having a shorter turnaround time in Rodriguez, there are requirements, such as tickets, that must be met before our trucks could be allowed to enter,” Rentoy said.

Rentoy said they are just waiting for the gosignal of the MMDA to be able to resume the Payatas operation.

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RUN ‘FUR’ FUN. More than a hundred runners and their four-legged friends enjoyed an afternoon of sunshine at SM City Santa Rosa’s ‘Run Fur Fun’ event at the mall’s parking area. Aside from bonding with their pets, participants also enjoyed sponsor booths, free veterinary check-ups, and loads of games and prizes. More than P20,000 worth of prizes were given away in the 1k and 3k race. Roy Tomandao

SOLON HOUSE BILL FOR FREE COLLEGE FOR SUC APPROVED SEVERAL congressmen, including Bacoor City Rep. Strike B. Revilla, have thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for signing the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act into law last Thursday.

The President signed the bill into law despite the objections of his administration’s economic managers, Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a press briefing.

Revilla was among the lawmakers who proposed free tuition for students in state universities and colleges through House Bill 4701 that the Bacoor solon filed last December. The bill was eventually consolidated into HB 5633, which Congress approved in May and sent to Duterte for signing last July 5.

The law prescribes full tuition subsidy for all students in SUCs, universities and colleges funded by local governments, and state-run technical-vocational schools.

Revilla thanked 58 fellow congressmen and senators who advanced the proposal in the upper chamber. The Bacoor representative also singled out Zamboanga Sibugay 2nd District Rep. Ann Hofer, chairman of the House Committee on Technical and Higher Education, for shepherding the bill through the deliberations.

He likewise praised House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, the Senate leadership and all lawmakers for passing the bill—which was one of President

Rep. Strike Revilla

Duterte’s campaign promises— unanimously.

“This measure shows the true and full compassion of the President for our youth and countrymen,” Revilla said. “This administration and our present crop of leaders have done in a year what has not been done before. That’s political will.”

“In the Philippines, two of every five high school students can’t go to college because of high tuition fees and expenses. After high school, they have no choice but to work instead of going to college,” he explained.

“This a big step to change our education system into a better one.

We should not let poverty stops our youth from their dreams. They are our future,” Revilla said.

CALTEX TO GRANT P3M TO 30 BICOL TEACHERS

CHEVRON Philippines Inc., marketer of Caltex fuels and lubricants, and Caltex branded marketer Southern Cross Distribution Inc. has announced that 30 public high school teachers from the Bicol Region will be given modern teaching equipment during the recent launch of “Caltex Fuel Your School” in Naga City.

From Aug. 1 to Sept. 30, Caltex will donate one peso for every liter purchased of Caltex with Techron each time motorists fill up at any of the 22 participating Caltex stations in Bicol.

The target amount of P3 million will be divided equally to each of the 30 teachers to buy teaching aids that will help their students learn science and math subjects.

“These classrooms must be equipped with the right tools and equipment, and teachers must be well trained to use them, and Fuel Your School program is a channel to achieve this,” said Vice President Leni Robredo during the launch ceremonies.

“Every new computer, every new LCD projector, every new multimedia device, and every laboratory equipment will build communities that will encourage students to develop their skills and excel in their chosen fields,” the Vice President added.

For more information about Caltex Fuel Your School, visit www. caltexfuelyourschoolph.com, or the Caltex Philippines Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CaltexPhilippines.

Local Gov’t Units

The 30 selected teachers of the Caltex Fuel Your School program share the stage with (from left, center row) AmCham Foundation executive director Jun Salipsip, Department of Education Region 5 director Ramon Abcede, Chevron Philippines Inc. country chairman Peter Morris, Vice President Leni Robredo, Southern Cross Distribution Inc. chairman Jose Mari Delgado, and CPI Policy, Goverment and Public Affairs manager Raissa Bautista.

VALENZUELA OFFICES REAP FOUR AWARDS

By Jun David VALENZUELA City has received four awards and was recognized for giving quality services to its constituents.

The awards were bestowed by Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the Office of the Civil Defense-National Capital Region for the second straight year.

They handed the Valenzuela City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office-Urban Search and Rescue Unit the Gawad Kalasag 2017 NCR for the Best Government Emergency Management Service in NCR on July 31.

Gawad Kalasag (KAlamidad at Sakuna LAbanan, SAriling Galing ang Kaligtasan) is the country’s premiere search for excellence in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, and Humanitarian Assistance.

During the awarding ceremonies held at the Novotel Manila in Quezon City, OCD-NCR director Romulo Cabantac Jr. commended the VCDRRMO team for their immediate response during the Mabini, Batangas quake.

“Right after the quake, the Valenzuela Rescue Team immediately put up an Incident Command System [ICS] post in the area, whereas the Batangas rescue unit arrived eight hours after.

Valenzuela City is a testament that the NCR is a model in establishing an ICS,” Cabantac said.

The Valenzuela City Public Employment Service Office, on the other hand, has been consistently on the ranks of the best PESOs in NCR. The Department Labor and Employment has once again recognized the office after garnering an overall rating of 97 percent making it the Best PESO in NCR for 2017.

Consequently, Valenzuela City is the region’s bet in the national search for the highly urbanized city category.

The city government also received Local Government Unit eReadiness Leadership Award during the Electronic Business Permits and Licensing Summit held at Novotel Manila in Quezon City.

Lastly, the city received the Seal of Child Friendly Local Governance during the Regional Awarding and Conferment Ceremonies held at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex.

Turn to D2

CALOOCAN RECEIVES CHINESE DELEGATION CALOOCAN City Mayor Oscar Malapitan recently received the delegation of Gulou Distruct, Fuzhou City, Fujian, People’s Republic of China, led by their Vice Mayor Wang Chung Sen. The Chinese city representatives came to express their intent to make Caloocan a sister city, Malapitan said.

Fuzhou is the sixth largest city of China and has a population of 16 million.

Yesterday, the Chinese group went around Caloocan’s national landmark, the Bonifacio Monument Circle, and was taken to different areas including the North City Hall, Amparo Nature Park, Caloocan City North Medical Center, University of Caloocan-Congressional Campus, and Sports Center, all in the northern part of the city.

Malapitan said the delegation aims to make Caloocan a sister city to improve and assist the latter’s economy, learn each other’s culture, education and local governance. Jun David

LGUs

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 D2 Standard TODAY Manila

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

I

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

SOLSONA IS ILOCOS’ TOP RICE PRODUCER

LOCOS Norte Gov. Imee R. Marcos joined Solsona Town Mayor Alexander Calucag in receiving the 2016 National Rice Achiever award from the Department of Agriculture– Regional Agriculture and Fishery Extension Network 1 on Wednesday for being one of the top rice-producing municipalities in the Philippines.

DPWH ALLOTS P193M FOR KALINGA ROAD GAPS

By Brenda Jocson TABUK CITY, Kalinga—The national government has allotted P193 million to complete the long-delayed pavement of short gaps along the national highway from this city to Mountain Province boundary in Tinglayan town.

According to the Upper Kalinga District of the Department of Public Works and Highways, contractors are now working on the pavement of the five-kilometer gaps mostly along the Lubuagan-Tinglayan section of the national road.

Theodoro Owek, DPWHUpper Kalinga District assistant district engineer, said the project is part of more than P1 billion in road projects during the administration of thenPresident Gloria Arroyo.

Owek said the project incurred gaps due to unreasonable demands of individuals on road right-of-way claims.

The municipal government of Tinglayan said it created a local peace corps to talk with claimants, resolve issues and settle demands. Owek said this move paved the way for contractors to pursue the completion of the remaining gaps.

DPWH officials assured they are doing all means for the smooth completion of the project.

Meanwhile, hundreds of motorcycles have been impounded and over a thousand motorcycle owners were apprehended by the city government after the implementation of the ordinance prohibiting the use of two-wheeled vehicles or motorcycles without exhaust mufflers or silencers was stepped up since January 2017.

Mirriam Antonette Buslig, assistant chief of the Public Order and Safety Office, said they were now enforcing Ordinance 002 Series of 2011.

Calucag received a plaque of recognition along with a check for P1 million.

Also an agriculturist, the mayor assured his constituents the cash prize will be used for the continuing benefit of farmers.

“We will buy seeds and fertilizer for our fields with this prize,” he said.

The Province of Ilocos Norte has also received the “Outstanding Rice Producer” title yearly since 2014.

Luz L. Tabora, provincial rice program coordinator of the Provincial Agriculture Office, said prior cash prizes received from the awards, amounting to P4 million, were used to sustain agricultural projects and intensify farming systems throughout the province.

“These projects are continuing. Our farmers are using these funds for their rice planting. They will be given hybrid seeds, organic and inorganic fertilizers for their fields. They could also receive rice-fish culture technology,” she said.

Last year, the province was also named by the DA as one of the Agri-Pinoy Rice Achiever Awardees for achieving rice sufficiency for the year 2015 with a 2.16 percent increase in rice production.

At the same symposium, Marcos also urged participants of the event to maintain their efforts in promoting agriculture and entrepreneurship.

“I hope that with the help of the Department, we’ll continue

to transform Northern Philippines into the same agriculture and entrepreneurial hub that is Central Luzon,” the governor said.

She also cited the “AgriNegosyo” program of Senator Cynthia A. Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, as an example of utilizing both new and conventional strategies to promote the country’s agricultural products.

“Seeing a lot of our farm products go to waste, or perhaps sold at meeker and seasonal prices, is to see the misery that farmer’s life can be today.

However, we have seen also great commercial experiments and entrepreneurs of enthusiasm who have shown the way

for agricultural businesses for the future.

“I hope that with the ‘AgriNegosyo’ inspiration of Senator Villar, we can keep gathering together to plant good businesses based on agriculture,” Marcos added.

RAFEN also launched the Kapatid Agri-Monitoring Program and the Directory Guide of Ilocandia, which includes learning sites, school of practical agriculture, farm tourism sites, and private extension service providers in the Ilocos region.

The event also featured an expo showcasing agricultural products throughout the region including plants, poultry products, and cow milk processed goods, among others.

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC Notice is hereby given that Capt. Victorio S. Milallos resigned as General Manager of Fil-Star Maritime Corporation, effective July 28, 2017.

This notice is in compliance with the Section 28, Part II, Rule II, of the 2016 Revised POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Seafarers.

(MS-AUG. 6, 2017)

Republic of the Philippines Department of Health CENTRAL OFFICE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE Invitation to Bid PROCUREMENT OF VARIOUS GOODS 1.

The Department of Health (DOH), through the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2016 and General Appropriations Act CY 2017 intends to procure the following projects listed below: IB No.

Name of Contract

2017-266 2017-268 2017-280 2017-290 2017-001-A

ABC (PHP)

Procurement of Deltamethrin Procurement of Albendazole Procurement of Long Lasting Insecticide – Treated Nets Procurement of Iodine Soft Gel Capsule Procurement of DMPA (Injectable) – Re-Bid

85,937,069.97 82,995,958.00 105,419,165.00 183,987,500.00 87,594,750.00

Cost of Bidding Documents (Php) 50,000.00 50,000.00 50,000.00 50,000.00 50,000.00

2.

The DOH now invites Bids from eligible Bidders for the procurement of the abovecaption projects. Delivery of the Goods is required as specified in Section VI. Schedule of Requirements. Bidders should have completed contracts similar to the cited projects, equivalent to at least twenty five percent (25%) of the ABC. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the COBAC Secretariat, G/F, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Sta. Cruz, Manila and inspect the Bidding Documents at 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), provided that Bidders who interested to participate shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

5.

The DOH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference and the Submission and Opening of Bids at COBAC Conference Room, G/F, Building 6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila on the schedule given below Name of Contract

2017-266 2017-268 2017-280 2017-290 2017-001-A

Procurement of Deltamethrin Procurement of Albendazole Procurement of Long Lasting Insecticide – Treated Nets Procurement of Iodine Soft Gel Capsule Procurement of DMPA (Injectable) – Re-Bid

PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications recently conducted an emergency response training for members of the clergy and religious congregations under the Diocese of Catarman.

The activity, held at the St. John Paul II Seminary in Mondragon, Northern Samar, is part of the ongoing #SafePH series of disaster preparedness trainings spearheaded by Smart to help build the capacity of communities during calamities.

Members of the clergy and religious congregations in the Diocese of Catarman listen during the disaster preparedness training conducted by Smart at St. John Paul II Seminary in Mondragon, Northern Samar.

Louie Domingo of Emergency Management Center taught the participants what to do during emergencies, how to apply first aid, and what to put in their emergency kits or “e-Balde.” Cedric Daep, for his part, shared lessons on weather hazards and how to create project proposals for disaster mitigation in their communities.

Daep is the head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Man-

agement Office, the first disaster risk management office under a local government unit in Asia.

“We endorse this training to our priests, and we hope to share the learnings to our parishes, the lay people, and our BECs [basic ecclesial communities]. The priests will appreciate learning how to assist during calamities, with the help of communications,” said Catarman Bishop Emmanuel Trance.

“Communication is very important during disasters. During Typhoon ‘Nona’—the strongest one to hit us in 2015—some areas lost signal. We had to drive to the mountainous areas to be able to contact people. That’s why we recognize the importance of being connected,” Trance added.

“We’re looking forward to extending this training to our partners on the ground—the responders, the people in the community—so that everyone will have knowledge on disaster preparedness and response,” said Rev. Fr. Fred I. Placa, diocesan pastoral office director.

“Climate change and calamities seem to be the new normal, that’s why we really need to prepare. The Church used to be focused only on

its own affairs, but now it is more involved in disaster preparedness, climate change mitigation and caring for environment,” Placa added.

“The Church is very much involved in disaster preparedness in communities, leading in the distribution of relief assistance and serving as evacuation centers to affected residents. Through this training, we aim to help the Diocese of Catarman manage the impact of calamities,” said Ramon R. Isberto, PLDT and Smart public affairs head.

The Diocese of Catarman covers the whole Northern Samar province, which has a land area of 3,499 kilometers and is made up of 570 barangays in 24 towns.

As part of its #SafePH advocacy, Smart promotes the culture of preparedness in communities with the help of technology.

It has initiated mobile solutions such as the Emergency Cell Broadcast System and the Batingaw emergency app together with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council; and community caravans for the youth, families, and members of the Church, in the company’s efforts toward resilience.

14 August 2017; 9:00 AM

29 August 2017; 9:00 AM

Amount of Bid Security (Not less than the required percentage of the ABC)

(a) Cash, Cashier’s/manager’s check issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank. (b) Bank draft/guarantee or irrevocable letter of credit issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank: Provided, however, that it shall be confirmed or authenticated by a Universal or Commercial Bank, if issued by a foreign bank. (c) Surety bond callable upon demand issued by a surety or insurance company duly certified by the Insurance Commission as authorized to issue such security. (d) Bid Securing Declaration

Two percent (2%)

Five percent (5%) No percentage required

Bid opening shall be at COBAC Conference Room, Ground Floor, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, Sta. Cruz, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address above. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8.

SMART BOOSTS CATARMAN ‘BECS’

Bid must be duly received by the COBAC-A Secretariat at the address below on or before the date given above. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated below: Form of Bid Security

7.

kick off the ‘Simula ng Pag-Asa’, a 12-week faith-based recovery program for drug surrenderers as part of the government campaign against illegal drugs. Asnan joined officers of the Philippine National Police-Dangerous Drugs Board, several faith-based organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector. Roy Tomandao

Activity (Date & Time) Pre-bidding Submission and Conference Opening of Bids

IB No.

6.

RECOVERY PROGRAM. Chief Insp. Jonathan A. Asnan, chief of police of Carmona in Cavite, conducts a lecture to

The DOH reserves the right to reject any and all Bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: COBAC-A Secretariat Building No. 6 Department of Health San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila Tel. Nos. 651-7800 local 1625 to 1627; 1650 to 52 Facsimile No.: 741-9775 (SGD) GERARDO V. BAYUGO, MD, MPH, CESO III Undersecretary of Health COBAC – A Chairperson

(MS-AUG. 6, 2017)

CHANGING PLACES. The Department of Agriculture–Regional Field Unit 02 held a turnover ceremony on Tuesday to welcome incoming Regional Executive Director Narciso A. Edillo last Tuesday at the DA-Cagayan Valley Integrated Agricultural Laboratory, Regional Government Center, Carig Sur, Tuguegarao City. Edillo will lead DA Region 02 after his short stint in the Ilocos Region. Outgoing RED Lucresio R. Alviar Jr., who spent six years in Region 02, will head DA Region 01, as they swap posts starting Aug.1. Abe Almirol

VALENZUELA...

From D1 The city has been constantly scoring excellently in the Child Friendly Local Governance Audit (CFLGA) since its implementation in 2014, allowing the city to receive the Seal.

CGLGA is a tool that assesses the performance of LGUs in de-

livery of social services that promote the welfare of children.

Also for the second time, Valenzuela City Government and Mayor Rex Gatchalian bagged the LGU e-Readiness Award 2017 which it previously got in 2014.

The award recognizes local chief executives who are pioneering the adoption and strategic use of Information and Communications Technol-

ogy to enhance the delivery of government services, improve revenue/tax collection efforts, hasten business permits application and renewal processes, and to promote transparency in government operations.

Gatchalian said this harvest of recognitions in the month of July are evidences that the City is truly a hub of local governance best practices.

CLIMATE CHANGE GRANTS PROPOSED THE Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture is working on a tie-up with the Department of Science and Technology to come up with scholarships or grants on climate change.

“To address Climate Change, we intend the scholarships to develop capacities and expertise of Filipinos,” Searca director Gil Saguiguit Jr. said.

Saguiguit said he has been discussing with Science Secretary Fortunato dela Peña last Wednesday during the opening of the annual Los Baños National Science and Technology Week celebration dubbed “SyenSya” the possibilities to collaborate particularly on the said scholarships.

Saguiguit said in the past, the Center has had sporadic collaborations with DoST including its forerunner National Science and Development Board which funded a nationwide program called the Social Laboratory.

A strategy for rural and agricultural development, the Social Laboratory is carried out in partnership with higher education institutions to uplift the socioeconomic conditions of rural farming communities.

Saguiguit said that in view of the changing landscape of agriculture and Searca’s focus on promoting inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development [ISARD], “it is imperative that we look to S&T to produce more from less.”

“It is toward this end that we are exploring possibilities to collaborate with DoST on agricultural research and development and capacity building initiatives, including said scholarships for advanced studies on climate change,” Saguiguit said. Brenda Jocson

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Gadgets & Games

EXPERIENCE INNOVATION WITH ELECOM MOUSE

K

EEPING up with today’s digital life is mainly about having the right tools on hand. And Japanese solutions provider Elecom tries to help digital savvy millennials stay ahead of the pack, whether in gaming, work or even school with the new Elecom mouse lineup, including Elecom’s commemorative “egg mouse”, which boasts an ultralightweight design and innovative features befitting today’s era.

Whether playing games, crafting work presentations or finishing reports, one can definitely find the right Elecom mouse to complement his mobility needs.

Work on the go with the M-EG30 Egg Lightweight Bluetooth Mouse

Professionals who wish they can bring along their PC mouse when they have to work on the go need look no further. At 30 grams together with the batteries, the M-EG30 Egg Lightweight Bluetooth Mouse weighs as light as a single screw and can easily fit into the laptop bag without much fuss while maintaining the performance and durability features of a normal mouse.

Professionals can work for longer hours too, thanks to the M-EG30 Egg Lightweight Bluetooth Mouse’s fatigue-resistant, hand-friendly design. With so much to do in so little time, they will definitely feel relieved at the prospect of not wasting so much time charging it: The M-EG30 Egg Lightweight Bluetooth Mouse can last for about two months in a single charge, making it ideal for professionals’ everyday on-the-go use.

The ultra lightweight Blue-

Whether playing games, crafting work presentations or finishing reports, one can definitely find the right Elecom mouse (left, M-EG30 Egg Lightweight Bluetooth Mouse and right, M-IR07DRS Wireless Infrared Mouse) to complement your mobility needs.

tooth mouse also has an Infrared LED for low-powered consumption and a built-in power switch that prevents battery drain, allowing professionals to maximize the mouse’s battery life and tackle day-to-day work challenges with optimum productivity.

Work silently with the M-IR07DRS Wireless Infrared Mouse

Not even the school librarian will be pursing her lips in disapproval: The MIR07DRS Wireless Infrared Mouse is silent to a fault, perfect for use in places requiring minimal noise. Students cramming their papers inside the library will be able to keep noise levels down conveniently and effortlessly, thanks to the mouse’s built-in silent switch.

But the mouse boasts more than just silence: With the M-IR07DRS Wireless Infrared Mouse’s built-in power switch and infrared LED, students won’t have the worry about their mouse dying on them while they work. And they can even enjoy battery that can impressively last as long as 2.5 years without charging. The M-IR07DRS Wireless Infrared Mouse also features a small and easily storable USB micro receiver, for connecting mobile devices.

Play hard with the M-DT1URBK DEFT Wired Trackball Mouse

Gaming aficionados who love play-

ing for long hours will find no better companion than the M-DT1URBK DEFT Wired Trackball Mouse, which features built-in function buttons, including left, right forward and back buttons and a tilt wheel, for seamless gameplay or even faster web browsing.

Set to bring out the inner gamer in each individual, the mouse features a built-in switch for adjusting pointer movement speed, a built-in power switch for preventing battery drain, and a built-in indicator lamp that shows remaining battery life. It also has an index finger operation type wired trackball that delivers overwhelming operation performance. Gamers who wish to better customize their gaming experience can even change the button function assignment through the “Elecom Mouse Assistant”, which can be downloaded for free.

Jabbing buttons while the game is heating up won’t cause hand and finger fatigue, either: The M-DT1URBK DEFT Wired Trackball Mouse’s ergonomic design prevents muscular and skeletal problems when gamers need to use the mouse for long hours. And gamers can be assured of excellent pointer response too, with the mouse’s gaming grade high-performance optical sensor that detects trackball movement.

Stay comfortable with the Elecom M-XGM10DBBK Wireless Blue Led Mouse and Elecom MP-115BK Fittio Mouse Pad

The Elecom M-XGM10DBBK Wireless Blue Led Mouse is nimble and quick: It features Blue LED Technology, for faster and more accurate response.

Designed for comfort and smooth usage, the Elecom M-XGM10DBBK Wireless Blue Led Mouse’s medium-sized built fits snugly into one’s hand, allowing the easy left and right movement of the thumb and ring finger as well as the absorption and distribution of load according to wrist movement. It also has five built-in buttons, for faster web browsing.

Aside from having the right mouse, users can fight wrist fatigue better with the easy-to-clean Elecom MP-115BK Fittio Mouse Pad, which features an integrated hand rest that distributes wrist weight, relieves wrist tension emanating from long-time mouse usage, and fixes wrist position for better mouse movement control.

These Elecom accessories are available in Elecom outlets in SM North Edsa, SM Marikina, SM Fairview, SM Soutmall, Solenad and all Urbanize outlets at U.P. Town Center, Gateway, Shangri-La, Glorietta3, Uptown BGC, Venice Grand Canal, Kiss & Fly NAIA Terminal 3, Alabang Town Center, The District-Imus, Solenad and Serin – Tagaytay. For more information, please visit the Urbanize and Elecom websites. Also follow Urbanize’s Facebook and Instagram and Elecom’s Facebook and Instagram.

M LHUILLIER, STARMOBILE, SMART TEAM UP M LHUILLIER announces its partnership with Starmobile and Smart with the launching of the ML Phone, a customized Starmobile PLAY Five smartphone powered by a Smart SIM with data allocation packaged for one year.

This partnership brings together the integration of mobile and digital technology to the financial services industry.

“We are very excited about this partnership with Starmobile and Smart as it extends our relationship with our customers, and expands our network to create new ones. Our efforts to push for strategic alliances help us to deliver excellence, innovation and quality service to the customers we serve,” said Lorenzo Escaño, general manager for M Lhuillier Luzon & NCR. The ML Phone possesses advanced specifications and access to Smart’s widest internet service, thereby allowing M Lhuillier customers to enjoy and enhance their

Proponents of the launching of the ML Phone are shown here, namely (from left) Dept. Head/VP, National Key Accounts Group Precy Katigbak, Smart SVP/Head for Wireless and Distribution Alex Caeg, M Lhuillier GM for Luzon/NCR Lorenzo Escaño, Starmobile CEO Joey Uy, and Starmobile President Uly Lao.

experience with its new digital solution, the ML Wallet.

A proprietary technology, the ML Wallet is an embedded app on the ML Phone. But for the millions of M

Lhuillier customers with Android or iPhone devices, they can download it through Google Play Store or Apple App Store, respectively.

With this breakthrough product,

users can conveniently send money, pay bills and electronically load mobile phones anytime and anywhere.

Just some of the earlier features available on the ML Wallet app and with more robust features to follow.

“We promise to support M Lhuillier all the way, from providing them the units and updating their application,” said Joey Uy, chief executive officer for Starmobile.

ML Phone is something to experience. With a free Smart SIM Pack and data allocation of up to 100 mbps per month, it is definite to deliver the best network service.

“Together, our teams commit to a stronger collaboration to deliver a common goal. I am happy that this project will be very fruitful. We look forward to seeing the launch of M Lhuillier Phone in the market,” said Alex Caeg, senior vice president and head for wireless and distribution of Smart.

ML Phone is now available in select M Lhuillier Branches nationwide.

ACER REVOLUTIONIZES EDUCATION THRU CLOUDPROFESSOR ACER has earned its pedestal in the tech market as a brand that spearheads innovative technology and practical solutions for the everyday Filipino. Beyond the successes it has received, it has also sought to go beyond the norm by crafting unique services that the market has never experienced, such as the CloudProfessor.

Following its launch in 2016, the CloudProfessor by Acer is finally in the Philippines to educate users on the basic Internet of Things (IoT) service and functions of cloud control, through its simplified devices and starter kit set-up. Initially introduced in the Taiwanese market, the first-of-its-kind cloud technology has been simplified to improve the educational experience of lecturers and students.

“We launched this cloud education service in 2016 as a testament to Acer’s commitment in helping break the barrier between people and technology. Through this new initiative, we wish to educate the next generation

on how to utilize, in a very simple way, this plug-n-play technology,” says Roger Wu, Business Development Manager of BYOC Smart Products and Pan Asia Pacific Business Development.

As the first stop in Southeast Asia, the Philippines market has the privilege to experience the CloudProfessor before its neighboring countries. During its recent local internal launch, the Acer Philippines family – with twenty-nine children, on hand, underwent an interactive boot camp to experience the genius, convenience, and dynamics behind the CloudProfessor. Showcasing a simple build-and-play activity, the children better understood the possibilities of cloud control by manipulating and maneuvering a toy car with the task to park it in a make-shift garage. All of which were controlled through a tablet and cloud technology.

The latest addition to Acer products locally, the CloudProfessor serves as a gateway to tech solu-

tions and innovations that can be crafted, even by students. Unlike its competitors, the Cloud Professor has already been packaged and simplified, which is why the term “plug, play, code and make” has been coined to describe the service. The package already includes a hardware, software, and cloud, which does not require programmers with in-depth skills unlike other IoT products.

The company believes that even the youngest of children can already learn a thing or two about programming, Roger Wu states, “We believe that in [the young children’s] generation, computer skills is a basic. But for them, programming is also a basic language. A lot of countries have taught programming in their classes.

We’re not trying to make everybody an engineer, or a programmer, this is just a training ground on how to solve a problem. Through programming, education can be achieved in a larger scale.”

D3

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

FORTINET WARNS OF CYBER ATTACKS

By Patricia Bianca S. Taculao FORTINET, an American multinational corporation, warned users during a briefing about the threat of ransomware and later offered solutions when the problem is encountered.

The rising stakes of global attacks from cybercriminals drove Fortinet to advise the public on how to deal with them.

Large-scale attacks like the ILOVEYOU worm, Code Red and Nimda are no longer foreign because of the numerous devices and organizations affected. The spread of WannaCry reportedly hit a couple of dozen companies in the Philippines.

WannaCry developed a ransomware that allows it to spread rapidly across the globe to attack thousands of devices and organizations rather than the usual method of selecting a specific target.

During the past month, Fortinet saw the emergence of a new ransomware called Petya. This new malware is similar to WannaCry’s approach of selecting a vulnerable target. However, Petya has a more potent payload that is able to clear data off a system.

“I believe that the WannaCry and Petya attacks were simply shots across the bow. They are part of an insidious new opportunistic strategy of targeting newly discovered vulnerabilities with massive, global attacks and increasingly malicious payloads,” said Fortinet Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong Jeff Castillo.

As a company that develops and markets cybersecurity software, appliances and services, Fortinet advises the public to be secure in their connection, aware of the devices connected to their network, perform patches on devices and replace those that are too old to be patched. They are also advised to divide their network into functional segments to protect data and resources.

OLX DATA...

From D4 Average price buyers are willing to spend on a car listed on OLX: P330,000 Top 5 Searched Brands 1. Toyota ; 2. Mitsubishi ; 3. Honda; 4. Isuzu; 5. Nissan Top 5 Make and Models Searched 1.

Honda Civic; 2.

Toyota Vios; 3.

Toyota Fortuner; 4.

Toyota Innova; 5.

Mitsubishi Montero Sport *Source OLX Data Hub Three out of the Top 5 searched vehicles belong to the utility vehicle category which shows that young fathers, who make up most of the market for used-cars, are practical. They hunt for people mover, multipurpose type of steeds—capable of being a daily driver while hauling the entire family for road trips on weekends.

From top 5 searched vehicle manufacturers, Nissan and Isuzu did not have specific models buyers are looking for. Among Japanese brands, Toyota is top of mind.

Just as they are popular brand new, the Vios, Innova, and Fortuner are also sought after by those looking to buy second-hand.

Supremacy of most searched make model however, belongs to the Honda Civic—suggesting young dads still aspire for a daily driver with a sporty vibe.

Online classifieds platforms also prove to be an effective way to sell pre-loved vehicles. Those looking to buy a new car, especially those who are starting a family, would benefit from selling their current rides instead of trading it in as buyers who find what they want online are also firm in purchasing.

According to the OLX Data Hub, cars posted on OLX will immediately get at least 3 inquiries on the week it is listed. If the vehicle is among the Top 5 searched, it’s highly likely that it’ll get an inquiry or even be sold within 1 to 2 hours after listing.

“With listings looking to breach the 1-million mark this year for both brand new and pre-loved cars, practical young dads looking to buy vehicles can find options within our platform,” says Raffy Montemayor, General Manager of OLX.“Those looking to sell their pre-loved vehicles especially Honda Civic, and Toyota Fortuner, Innova, and Vios owners will not have a hard time finding serious buyers on our app.”

While there is a market, buying a used-ride is still tricky. OLX has security measures in place to ensure those listing have legitimate identities. But buyers still have to have to practice due diligence by checking if there are any red flags on the car by getting its plate number double checked through the LTO. Also, once meeting up with a seller, ask for maintenance records of the car. You are driving it on a lot to trips with your family after all. A seller peddling a well maintained vehicle should be able to share details of latest maintenance checks, replaced parts, and will keep records. If they don’t, that should alert you already.

Whether you’re buying or selling a car, OLX has got you covered. Download the app today to either find your next dream ride or post your car to get an upgrade today!

D4

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

Gadgets & Games

SAMSUNG RAISES BAR IN SOUND SYSTEMS

Capt. Sam Avila (right), Cebu Pacific Vice President of Flight Operations, shows Cebu Pacific pilots the features of the iPad Electronic Flight Bag, which will digitize flight charts, maps and other information pilots need to have in-flight. The carrier began rolling out the iPad EFBs to Cebgo ATR pilots last week and expects to distribute the devices to CEB Airbus pilots in the coming weeks.

CEB PILOTS NOW EQUIPPED WITH IPADS Dan Torres, Marketing Head for Consumer Electronics; Isabella Concepcion, Marketing Manager for AV/ TV; Mahir Al-Rubah, Product Marketing Manager for Audio; and Daye Barbatchano, Head of Product Training for Consumer Electronics reveal the curved Samsung Soundbar Sound+ HW-MS6501. Nathanielle Punay

By Nathanielle Punay

W

ITH the theme “raise the bar,” Samsung Electronics released three new soundbar models: HW-K950, HW-MS751 and HWMS6501, which promotes a theatre-like sound system to be used at home and can wirelessly connect to multiple devices all at once.

The new models that are designed in the company’s Audio Lab in California introduce three key features-cinematic sound quality, powerful bass and wireless connectivity.

The soundbars also stray from their usual structure wherein only one amplifier is dedicated to one channel, as Samsung built one amplifier each for every speaker, providing a wider range and better sound quality.

It is also available in all sizes and designs that are compatible to any TV

width and structure.

The first model in their industry that has been powered by Dolby Atmos Technology is the Samsung Soundbar HW-K950.

It comes with a 5.1.4 channel system, meaning there are five traditional surround speakers spreading to front left, front right, center, top left and top right directions; one subwoofer that is automatically connected to the soundbar; and four up-firing speakers, allowing sound to travel in all directions.

The package is equipped with 15 speakers in total with wide-range tweeters and 4K pass-through.

The soundbar also comes with six sound modes, such as Standard, Music, Movie, Clear Voice, Sports, and Night Mode.

Meanwhile, the two new Soundbar Sound+ models, HW-MS751 and HW-MS6501 has 11 built-in speakers and also have five channels with six woofers, three tweeters and two vertical tweeters.

The difference between the two models is that HW-MS751 has a builtin subwoofer, making it the first of Samsung’s Soundbars to have such a feature.

The Sound+ line-up has improved qualities such as the “Ultra High Quality 32-bit Audio,” which lets out a sound quality that is almost as clear as its original recording; “Height Channel Up-Mix Technology” that produces a surround-sound effect; “Long-ex-

cursion Technology” which improves speaker movement, “Multi-speaker Control Technology” that enables all speaker units to produce sound at the same time; and the “Distortioncancelling technology” which makes sure that no disruption of audio signals will occur.

The new products have been revealed through a press launch last Aug. 1 at the One Global Place in Taguig City.

Samsung also announced its nationwide 38 percent discount promo on their selected soundbars from Aug. 10 to Sept. 17.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a South Korean, multinational electronics company that has been going on for 48 years and is one of the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, medical equipment, network systems and electronic components.

ASUS ZENFONE IS FOR THE EXPLORER IN YOU SINCE the release of its first model in the country, the ASUS Zenfones have captured the attention of many Filipinos as a smartphone that goes beyond expectations.

From its remarkable front camera to its impressive battery life, the Zenfone is the perfect device for all kinds of adventures. Here are four reasons this little wonder from ASUS is a cut above the rest: A superior battery life that keeps up with you Imagine being in the beautiful shores that Bantayan Island, and soaking up all the beauty that it has to offer. You grab your phone to capture this spectacular sight, only to find your battery dying at the last minute. It’s a nightmare, we know. Your bucket list moments shouldn’t be left uncaptured because of poor battery. The Zenfone, with its undeniably impressive battery capacity that can go up to 5,000 mAh (milliamp Hour) mixed with energy-efficient processors, knows this struggle. Now you can keep on shooting your picture-perfect adventures, and even keep up with your day-to-day activities such

as surfing the web, playing mobile games, or just checking your social media accounts!

fone’s got you covered with phones that you can say are uniquely yours.

Catching the moment is a breeze The ASUS Zenfone is built for photography.

You’re given a wide array of Instagram-worthy photos with every click. May it be a simple one day out of town trip at Tagaytay or a week-long surfing escapade at La Union, this phone will boast of game-changing photo features like a high-end color correction device, wide digital image stabilizer, and real-time High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging—which used to be only found in DSLR cameras!

A quality phone that pays off All of these features of the ASUS Zenfone come at a reasonable price. Designed for photography enthusiasts, this phone line only gets better series after series. Its mid-range variants are for those looking for a phone with distinct camera and battery features but are on a budget and its more premium units are designed for pros on the lookout for specific and advanced specs.

A phone designed to be your trusty companion no matter what lies ahead; the ASUS Zenfone is the perfect fit for your inner explorer. All that’s left for you to do is to climb that mountain, take that road trip, or go off on another quest in search of that next great maximum, incredible experience.

A design that lets you show your personality The ASUS Zenfone’s exteriors do not disappoint too. Whether you like sleek and stylish, or want fun and quirky, this model offers a wide range of colors that can fit any preference. From your common black, white, and silver shades to your bright pink, blue, and purple hues, the Zen-

The Zenfone is the perfect device for all kinds of adventure.

OLX DATA REVEALS: GEN Y PINOY DADS BIGGEST MARKET FOR 2ND HAND CARS DESPITE the irresistible offers from local dealers on brandnew, off the showroom floor vehicles, statistics from online classifieds site OLX found that the second-hand car market remains robust with many buyers opting for a pre-loved set of wheels.

Used vehicles are often enticing propositions for most buyers who just wish to own an affordable ride that will get them from point A to B. In 2016, more than 630,000 second-hand vehicles were

listed as for sale on the online classifieds platform—12% more than in 2015.

Who exactly are in the market for second-hand vehicles? Turns out, it’s the young fathers segment.

Of the 74% of male buyers on OLX, 81% of them are married and belong to the 30 to 39 age demographic.

Most of them are employed working at private companies, government agencies, or are entrepreneurs.

As for what they’re look-

ing for, numbers from the OLX Data Hub revealed that Japanese cars remain a top choice as no non-Japanese brands or models were in the Top 5 users searched for. This suggests that car buyers trust Japanese rides and view them as reliable.

Other statistics from the OLX Data Hub on used cars also show that the demand isn’t going down soon.

The OLX Second-hand Car Buyer: 8 out of 10 Filipinos are

looking for second-hand cars 74 % - Percentage of Male Car buyers on OLX; 26 % Percentage of Female Car Buyers on OLX; 50% of the market are first time car buyers.

Top 3 age range of secondhand car buyers: 1.

30 to 39-years old - 35 %; 2.

22 to 29-years old - 22 %; 3.

40 to 49 years old – 22 % Top 3 Occupations: 1. Private employee; 2. Business Owner; 3. Government Employee Turn to D3

CEBU Pacific Air has started to roll-out 5th generation iPad devices for its pilots, as it begins to invest in paperless cockpit technology. The iPad will contain the pilots’Electronic Flight Bags, an information management device that will help flight crews perform tasks necessary to fly and navigate an aircraft.

CEB has started to equip pilots of its ATR aircraft fleet with the iPad EFBs last week. The ATRs are flown under CEB subsidiary Cebgo and are mainly used for inter-island routes across the Philippines. An initial 70 pilots were equipped with the iPad EFBs, with the carrier targeting to equip all 120 ATR pilots by July 13, 2017.

On the other hand, another 700 CEB pilots, or those flying the Airbus fleet, will be equipped with the iPad EFBs over the next few weeks. The investment in the iPad EFBs forms part of the PHP24 Billion capital expenditure earmarked

by CEB for 2017.

“CEB operates one of the world’s youngest fleet of ATR 72-600 aircraft, which is probably the most technologically advanced turbo-prop currently in commercial service. To complement the ATR, our investment in the iPad EFB aligns with our goal of operational excellence through the introduction of systems that enhance safety and efficiency in flight operations. With the EFB iPad, aircraft performance software and aeronautical charts are readily available, flight plans are constantly updated, and aircraft documentation and procedures are easily accessed; this is important when time critical decisions need to be made and executed in the flight deck,” said Capt. Sam Avila, Cebu Pacific Vice President for Flight Operations. “iPad EFBs will also help us reduce our environmental footprint and manage our operational costs. Traditionally, flight manuals, charts, and other documentation used by pilots are all on paper— these paper documents weigh anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds. Going paperless will reduce our cumulative aircraft fuel burn, and consequently our carbon emissions.”

The iPad EFBs display a variety of aviation data such as weather patterns, maps and charts; and perform basic calculations like fuel consumption. These are also enhanced with navigation and situational awareness capabilities to simplify preparation and in-flight procedures, which are critical during times of high congestion or poor visibility.

Moreover, CEB’s iPad EFBs come with a docking system that allow for seamless and fast synching and downloading of data to multiple devices.

Initial estimates indicate that CEB would save an estimated 50,000 sheets of paper per year from the full implementation and use of the iPad EFBs. Added to the reduced weight of hard copy manuals in the cockpit, this would translate to a 17 ton reduction in Carbon (CO2) emissions and a five (5) ton cut in fuel consumption.

CEB and Cebgo fly to 37 domestic and 26 international destinations, with over 104 routes spanning Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and USA. The CEB network operates flights out of six strategically placed hubs in the Philippines: Clark, Davao, Kalibo, Cebu, Iloilo and Manila.

For bookings and inquiries, guests can visit www.cebupacificair.com or call the reservation hotlines (+632) 7020-888 or (+6332)230-8888. The latest seat sales can be found on CEB’s official Twitter (@CebuPacificAir) and Facebook pages.

Guests may also download the Cebu Pacific official mobile app on the App Store and Google Play.

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor

/

Young Life

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com.ph

BETTER VISION FOR BETTER LIVES

LIZA SOBERANO

READING, writing and arithmetic – these are the basic skills students must learn. But with poor eyesight hindering their learning process, they struggle to keep up in school, which in turn leads to difficulties in entering the workforce.

In order to reduce, if not eliminate, this problem, Essilor Vision Foundation has joined forces with leading actor and Essilor Philippines brand ambassador Piolo Pascual to launch the Eye Can Succeed campaign, which seeks to make better vision available to 10,000 Filipino students.

EVF kicked off the advocacy campaign at Rizal High School.

With the assistance of volunteer optometrists, EVF examined 4,000 Grades 11 and 12 students and distributed free prescription glasses to students who were in need.

“It is alarming to learn that many of our target public school students have never had their eyes checked up at all,” shared Lauren Wyper, EVF associate director of communications.

BEHIND THE CAMERA

By Bernadette Lunas

T

HE most photographed face of this generation actually doesn’t want to look at her photos very much.

Liza Soberano’s face is everywhere: on billboards, on magazine covers, on television. We might think she has a couple more images of herself in her camera, but she revealed she has more photos of other people.

“I like taking pictures of other people more than I like taking pictures of myself, because sometimes I don’t like looking at myself very much,” Liza told MS Young Life.

Turn to E2

Scan this icon to view the PDF

Essilor Philippines general manager Dr. Emelita Roleda conducts visual acuity test

ALWAYS THE MODEL, NEVER THE PHOTOGRAPHER. Liza Soberano shares her penchant for photography, her preference to take photos of other people much more than herself, and her simple tips to get the perfect selfie.

She continued, “Launching the Eye Can Succeed campaign here in the Philippines not only helps fulfill the foundation’s mission of enabling Filipinos to have better lives through better sight, but also enables us to spread awareness on the importance of proper eye care through an expanded network consisting of academic institutions, the media, and local campaign ambassador Piolo Pascual.”

With his presence, Pascual showed his support for the company’s advocacy.

“Education plays a huge role in the future of young Filipinos, and poor eyesight will only hinder their progress in learning.

By giving them thorough eye check-ups and access to free prescription eyeglasses, they will no longer struggle with vision problems in their lessons, Turn to E2

LEGIT STATUS TO DANCE IN SKECHERS AT HIP HOP CHAMPIONSHIP Legit Status is all set to compete at the World Hip Hop Championships in Phoenix, Arizona.

DANCE group Legit Status will move and groove at the World Hip Hop Championships 2017 wearing Skechers shoes.

Skechers, a brand known for promoting and producing dance competitions, is supporting the PH bet to the international hip hop contest happening in Phoenix, Arizona on Aug. 7 to 12.

Prior to the event, Legit Status has been relying on the comfort and style of their dance kicks during rehearsals.

Judd Delos Reyes, team representative of the dance group, shares that the team is excited to wear their Skechers on stage. He says the shoes are “comfortable during training and dancing. It gives lots of character, a lot of vibe, as well as swag to dancers.”

Legit Status, founded in 2009, has earned its way to the prestigious competition after winning the HHI Philippines Regionals. The group will go headto-head against other dance crew from 47 countries in the Megacrew and Varsity divisions.

Young Life

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

BETTER...

From E1

allowing their natural intelligence to shine through,” the actor said.

EVF is committed to eliminating poor vision and its lifelong consequences, and to providing underprivileged people the opportunity to live a better life through better sight.

For more information about EVF and the Eye Can Succeed advocacy campaign, visit www.essilor.com.ph, and follow @EssilorPH on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

LIZA...

From E1

Yes, the girl whose face has launched several brands wants to work behind the camera, too. “I’ve always liked taking photos of beautiful unforgettable moments, places, and other people,” said Liza.

“I actually want to venture into photography in the future.”

The “millennial Darna” now has a chance to learn more about the craft as Fujifilm tapped her to be its newest endorser for its latest X-A3 camera.

Fujifim Philippines Director Ryo Nagaoka said Liza is the perfect example of the elegant, beautiful, and stylish woman of this generation. “Not afraid of being herself and showing creativity, the X-A3 woman is smart as she will always go for form and function in choosing her gadgets without ever putting a compromise in style,” he declared.

Although Liza only takes a few selfies (she said there are days she doesn’t do that altogether), she makes sure she takes them well. “I make sure the background is nice, I have the perfect lighting, and I put on my best smile.”

The mirrorless X-A3 does come in handy as its 180-degree tiltable LCD monitor makes it easier to take selfportraits. Its 24.2 megapixel APS-C sensor ensures photos are at their most excellent quality.

Meanwhile, bad lighting is one less problem of Liza as the camera comes with a built-in pop-up flash that supports the Super Intelligent Flash system that accurately controls light output according to individual scenes. This means the flash will automatically reduce highlight clipping to produce images exactly as how you see them.

Sharing and printing photos captured using X-A3 is easy, too, as it’s equipped with built-in Wi-Fi capability to connect to Instax SHARE and to smartphone or tablet.

Liza also loves the retro-chic design of the camera. The colors— brown, silver, pink—are perfect for her, too, as she said she’s not a fan of too girly style.

But should she need to spruce up her usual neutral colored ensemble, she can easily do so with Fujifilm’s other latest release Instax Mini 9, which is available in pink, blue, green, and white. Or go back to black with Instax’s first hybrid camera SQ10.

At the end of the day, regardless of the camera Liza uses, she said she’d just like to capture moments.

“A great photo is when you’re able to capture that memory and when you look back you’re able to feel what you felt in that moment,” she concluded.

A study suggests firms should pay more attention to the importance of employees’ personality traits in customizing their practices to boost job satisfaction.

WHY SOME PEOPLE SWITCH JOBS

MORE FREQUENTLY THAN OTHERS

A

CCORDING to data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth, some people have worked in more than 10 jobs in a lifetime; men held 11.8 jobs while women had 11.5.

ronmental factors still play a role in affecting work characteristics.

Li’s another study examined how a dopamine genetic marker, DRD4 7 Repeat allele, interacted with early life environmental factors (i.e., family socioeconomic status and neighborhood poverty) to influence job change frequency in adulthood. The gene is closely related to human motivation, reward, and self-regulation, which in turn may affect educational achievement and job changes.

“In our findings, higher family socioeconomic status was assoInterestingly, the study also found that the younger genera- ciated with higher educational achievement, resulting in higher tion are more likely to change jobs than their older counter- frequency of voluntary job changes and lower frequency of involparts, “men held 5.7 jobs from age 18 to age 24, compared with untary job changes; such relationships were stronger (i.e., more positive or negative) for individuals with more DRD4 7R alleles.

2.4 jobs from age 40 to age 48”.

“The results also told us the importance of providing a supportive While some of us are happy to stay in our jobs for life, others find it hard to stick to even one. So what makes us feel satisfied environment to children and adolescents, which will have a posiwith our jobs and stay on while others feel the opposite? Is it the tive influence not only on their immediate education outcomes but also on their long-term careers environment or is it us? later in life.”

Research by Wendong Li, To find out whether genetic assistant professor of the Deand environmental influences partment of Management at are stable over time, Li conducted the Chinese University of Hong another research, entitled “Are Kong (CUHK) Business School Genetic and Environmental Influhas shed light on the interplay ences on Job Satisfaction Stable of genetic (i.e. the person) and Over Time? A Three-Wave Longiwork environment and how tudinal Twin Study,” involving 712 they influence the relationship same-sex twin pairs, with their edwe have with our job. ucational attainment and career “Traditionally, people bedevelopment assessed at approxilieve that it is primarily the mately 21, 25, and 30 years of age. work environment, such The researchers looked into as managers and organizathree individual differences: tions, which influences our general mental ability, posijob characteristics, such as tive affectivity, and negative afthe tasks we perform and fectivity in mediating genetic the amount of autonomy we influences on job satisfaction have at work,” says Li. A study by Professor Wendong Li of the Chinese University of Hong Kong He continues, “But accu- Business School reveals that genetic and environmental factors influence the through early adulthood.

The study results show that as mulating research on person- relationship we have with our job people accumulate more experienvironment fit has revealed ences when they develop into the indispensable role of the adulthood, genetic influences on individual characteristics become person in influencing individuals’ job characteristics.”

Professor Li has been participating in extensive research in less important—but still significant—throughout early adulthood.

“During early adulthood, employees’ job satisfaction levels may the genetic influence on work behavior.

“People are not randomly assigned to work environments; in- be more shaped by environmental factors such as organizational stead, they select themselves, and/or are selected into compat- practices (e.g., leadership, performance management, and reward ible work environments to garner the optimal level of person- systems) and economic situations, and these external factors may become increasingly important over time,” says Li. environment fit,” he explains.

With these findings, Li suggests that firms should try to tailor We can all relate to the fact that when looking for a job, apart from considering the salary and perks, we would also consider their practices according to individual differences.

“Organizations should pay more attention to the importance of whether the job nature suits our personality.

“This is a form of manifestation that genetic factors shape our employees’ personality traits in customizing their practices, as it shows in our study that positive affectivity is important in boosting work attitudes and behaviors,” he says.

However, it doesn’t mean the environment plays no part at job satisfaction. This is similar to personalized medicine,” he posits. *Read the entire article at www.bschool.cuhk.edu.hk all. While the role of genetic influences is indispensable, envi-

UNDERSTANDING OUR CATS PET TALES

BY DESIREE CARLOS

(Part 1) DOES your cat welcome guests and keep them entertained until you come down from your room? Our Garfield does. He is a people-cat.

Does your cat go off to who knows where and return only to eat his food?

Puma, our black cat, does this every single day and I even see him round the corner when I go out. I always find myself stopping and reminding him, “Keep to the right. If you do, it is easier to trace your way back home. Do not cross the street.”

He would just look at me as if saying, “Duh. Been doing this for years, mother.”

Does your cat stay in one area in your home and keep to herself? That’s our Fluffy. But she also likes to go up the wall and tease the dogs who can see

her. That’s her idea of fun, I guess, so we also call her Alaskador.

Cats and dogs have personalities indeed.

It is not easy to understand a being that does not speak our language. But researchers have studied them and come up with some interesting findings while cat lovers have put into words their cool observations.

I will share them with you today and next Sunday, and let’s have fun identifying our cat’s personality type.

CAT PERSONALITY TYPES

In an article entitled “Cat ‘Purr’ sonalities,” vet Kia Benson (associate veterinarian, clinical toxicology) reveals that a recent study identified three (3) primary personality categories and nine (9) distinct personality types in cats. The researchers observed a cat’s level of boldness and response to new stimuli, and the cat’s degree of independence as against the cat’s gregariousness, Benson says.

The 3 primary personality categories based on the level of boldness or courage the cats displayed when faced with or given new stimuli are: • Quiet shy cats • Solid companion “middle of the road” cats • Adventurous confident cats Benson says cats also displayed varying degrees of independence or gregariousness within each of the primary categories. This, she says, led researchers to name three (3) sub-categories within each primary category, which they then called the nine (9) personality types.

Under Quiet Cats, Benson says we have the: Private Investigator: Shy cats keep to the sidelines and prefer watching the world instead of interacting with others. You will see them one minute, then they will vanish to their favorite quiet space. When they go to you, this means they really want your love and attention so start talking to them and petting them.

Continued on E3

SPOILED BABY.

Chrissy sleeps the whole day, then wakes up at midnight to nudge her human parents out of bed to play with her.

Showbiz

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 2017

E3

SUNDAY PINASAYA...

From E2

Millennial stars of the comedymusical lead by Barbie Forteza and Julie Ann San Jose

JUSTICE LEAGUE CHARACTERS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND SCREEN HEROES. Justice League characters are making a debut on the small screen (mobile phone screen) as leading telco partners with lifestyle

Meanwhile, Asia’s Romantic Balladeer Christian Bautista, Ryzza Mae Dizon, and My Korean Jagiya’s Edgar Allan Guzman will show their singing skills in “Kantaserye Presents Casa Buslo” where they will challenge Asia’s Pop Sweetheart Julie Anne San Jose in a musical showdown.

“Captain Barbie” will then be featuring Marian Rivera and Ai Ai delas Alas who will play fading stars who compete to land on a comeback role.

These rivals will try to impress the director played by Ricky Davao.

For the first time, GMA’s sought-after leading men Alden Richards and Ruru Madrid will star in a two-part episode of “Madramarama: Yakapan (Yaya, Kapatid, Anak),” a story of two brothers who

and gadget brand to promote DC inspired handsets

By Nickie Wang

J

USTICE League’s most popular characters Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Flash have been toying with our emotions with the release of blockbuster movies featuring these favorite screen superheroes. Now it’s about time for fans to manipulate them in their own hands...using a mobile phone that is.

In time for the upcoming interchangeable cases with release of DC’s ensemble DC Comics artwork by Jim movie, Justice League, is Lee, Jason Fabok, Francis the launch of themed Manapul, and Ivan Reis,” smartphones by Ekotek, the Chua added. brand behind DC certified The executive furthered gadgets in the Philippines, that in terms of the phone’s and powered by Smart physical aspect, “it’s heavily Communication. customized.”

After Smart Giga Movies’ “Our team really worked Batman vs Superman and hard on the icons. Since all Wonder Woman cinema and of us (at Ekotek) are DC fans, fly-off events, fan boys and we made everything really girls have the opportunity to special. We wanted DC fans be the world’s first owners of to have something that they the limited edition themed can consider as a collector’s phones. item since every aspect “We wanted to make it of the phone is really DClimited. We wanted to focus inspired,” he said. on the collectability of the To be amongst the phone and if ever people first-in-the-world to own would want more, we could this superhero package, always make more. But it simply add P400 to any won’t be this one,” Edric Van Smart Postpaid plan and Chua, Ekotek managing request the limited edition Ekotek Managing Director Edric Ivan Chua and Smart Postpaid Brand director, told Manila Standard. smartphone. Best paired Manager Carl Wy launch first-in-the-world Justice League Smartphones There are only 5,000 units with Smart Postpaid Plan of the limited edition handset 599, which comes with 5GB worldwide, so that means getting it from Smart automatically Data which you can stream CW’s The Flash if you subscribe to iflix, allows the subscriber to be part of that elite collector’s club. Each Plan 599 also comes with the following inclusions: 30 minutes handset also comes with a seal of authenticity with indicated all-net calls, unlimited all-net texts, Free Facebook Messenger, unique number from one (1) to five thousand (5,000).

Whatsapp, Viber. ““The special thing about this phone is it’s a complete package, it The LTE-capable device also supports the 700mhz indoor comes with that sleeve, a collectible box, a certificate, and different frequency to maximize DC and data experience under Smart’s cases. The package comes with superhero-oriented accessories like fastest and strongest LTE network. The handset became available Lasso of Truth cable charger, Scarlet Speedsters earphones, four on Aug. 1.

PET TALES...

From E2 Secret Admirer: These are the shy cats who take their time getting to know new people, new surroundings, or new situations. But they become very loyal to a companion or family and are very affectionate once they are comfortable with you.

Love Bug: Benson says these are the “consummate lap cats, these kitties love nothing more than to sit quietly in a lap, kneading and purring contentedly.”

Under Middle of the Road Cats, Benson says we have the: The Executive: Executive cats are the curious cats who like to explore.

They adapt well to new circumstances without much reassurance from their human companions. These cats are best for people who cannot handle a high-maintenance pet.

Sidekick: Sidekicks are friendly and self-reliant cats. Yes, they can enjoy playing and being stroked. But they also need their quiet time, their alone time. Sidekicks do not explore but will not be afraid when faced with new situations. Benson calls them “steady companions on the road of life.”

Personal Assistant (PA): PAs are high-maintenance and co-dependent. “They are known for being ‘helper cats.’ PAs help with the computer,

Meyohme, a pusang Pinoy or Puspin, loves to eat fish and chicken, and to play dress up

cannot stand each other and a rift between them intensifies as Emmanuel (Ruru Madrid) will be accused of a petty crime that he did not do and will also lead to a revelation about their family. Can they still heal their broken bond and patch-things up as brothers?

Julie Anne San Jose, Christian Bautista, Aicelle Santos, and Gian Magdangal will wrap up the anniversary celebration on Sunday via a remarkable acapella performance.

Barbie Forteza (left) as Captain Barbie in one of the segments of the Sunday show

a book, papers on a desk or even supper, opening kitchen cabinets to see what caused their human companions to do the same,” Benson says.

Under Adventurous Cats, Benson says we have the: MVP: MVPs are resourceful and savvy. These are cats that are not fazed by the new or unique. They find ways to entertain themselves, but also appreciate a scratch behind the ears by their human companion.

Party Animal: Party animals indeed, they love to play and explore their world. While they enjoy playing with their human companions, they also consider anything around them a toy—those crumpled paper, pencils, caps from soda bottles. “Party cats love to have fun, and can end up in some funny situations.

YouTube cat videos anyone?” Benson says.

Leader of the Band: They are vocal, confident cats. Because they are fearless, these cats may end up leading their human companions into adventure. These are cats who talk to their human companions and show lots of affection.

By identifying your cat’s personality, Benson hopes “we might be better able to understand their point of view and their world as they live alongside us in ours.”

Now how many of you have leaders of the band, an executive, a love bug?

Next week, I will share another set of cat personality types which can help you understand your cats more.

Namaste!

E4

Showbiz

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor / Nickie Wang, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com

UNDERRATED.

People are talking about Alessandra de Rossi, star of the surprise hit "Kita Kita," which is breaking local box office records despite stiff competition from Hollywood offerings

The cast of Sunday comedy-musical variety show, "Sunday Pinasaya"

THE RESURGENCE OF

ALESSANDRA DE ROSSI

By Nickie Wang

A

CTRESS Kristin Bauer once told Manila Standard that many actors in Hollywood are discovered only after 20 years of playing numerous roles. She was also referring to her career which started in 1994 but was only given a big break and became a household name when she became part of HBO’s hit vampire series, True Blood.

In case of Alessandra de Rossi, who started out in showbiz 20 years ago being part of the support cast in the fantasy film Magic Kingdom and as a member of the extended cast for paranormal TV drama Oka Tokat, her recent resurgence validated what Bauer described as an actor’s second coming in the entertainment business.

While many of today’s A-List stars have been in the business since they were fresh-faced teens, or, in the case of Alessandra, since she was a child actor, not every star got their start so early. In fact, some of the biggest names in showbiz only got to where they are after putting in years and years of struggle.

As one of the underrated actors in local showbiz, Alessandra has starred in around 50 television shows and over 40 films, has won 4 acting awards as a lead actress and 5 trophies as a supporting actress. And yet, people view her nothing more than a character actress who fades in the background when fans decided who should be in the limelight. Then came the surprise hit Kita Kita, the indie film that is now breaking local box office records.

The romantic flick, made with only a P10 million budget, took in P100 million after eight days, despite stiff competition from Hollywood offerings such as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Dunkirk, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

Glowing reviews, with many noting the lead cast’s perfect chemistry as an unlikely couple, the film’s stunning locations, and the film’s simple nonlinear plot, had translated to a strong turnout, resulting in Kita Kita earning more and breaking its own record week on week.

A s of this writing, the romcom produced by Spring Films – spearheaded by Joyce Bernal, Erickson Raymundo, and Piolo

Pascual– makers of the hit Kimmy Dora series and Relaks It’s Just Pag-ibig, has earned more than P 240 million and now holds the distinction as the highest grossing indie film putting TBA’s period war drama, Heneral Luna in second place.

Just like how John Arcilla became a pop icon after the success of Heneral Luna, Alessandra’s career seems to have been revitalized as she’s getting all the attention after Kita Kita’s commercial success.

In fact, words are spreading that Spring Films is gearing up for another movie that will star the 33-year-old actress alongside her leading man Empoy Marquez.

“May naririnig akong chismis na Iceland ang next nating gagawin so sana, sana. Bakit naman hindi? Pero iyon nga ang maganda sa amin ganito lang kami masaya lang,” she said in a recent interview.

ALJUR ABRENICA SHIRTLESS IN HIS FIRST KAPAMILYA PROJECT NEW Kapamilya actor Aljur Abrenica is joining the cast of the primetime series FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, and guess what role he is going to play.

The series’ lead star, Coco Martin, made the announcement on his Instagram page on Wednesday. Posting a photo of Aljur, Coco wrote: “Siya si Miguel. Abangan si @ajabrenica sa ‘FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano!’ Malapit na!”

Aljur confirmed his being a Kapamilya also on Instagram where he thanked ABS-CBN head of TV production Laurenti Dyogi, Dreamscape production head Deo Endrinal and ABS-CBN chief operating officer Cory Vidanes.

The actor also said he was “starstruck” as he took a selfie with It’s Showtime host Vice Ganda.

In 2014, however, Aljur filed for the nullification of his contract with GMA Network due to the latter’s alleged mishandling of his career.

However, both parties were able to somehow fix the dispute. The actor was again given new projects after their severed ties until his contract ended in March this year, the same time when news broke out that his fiancee Kylie Padilla was pregnant with their first child.

Aljur was once among GMA 7’s sought-after leading men. After emerging as the “ultimate survivors” in Starstruck in 2007, he continued on to star in top-rating shows including Machete, The Last Prince, Zaido: Pulis Pangkalawakan, which all made him the next big thing in the Kapuso Network.

SUNDAY PINASAYA’

CELEBRATES

2ND

ANNIVERSARY GMA Network’s breakthrough c o m e d y - m u s i c a l variety show Sunday Pinasaya continues to redefine the viewers’ Sunday noontime habit with its unparalleled comedic stints, exciting production numbers and starstudded hosts.

As it concludes its monthlong 2nd anniversary celebration today, the biggest stars of the Kapuso Network are joining the fun as they bring the program’s grandest and biggest musical comedy episode to date.

Dubbed as “Puso ng Saya, Saan man sa Mundo,” it highlights the program’s goal to continue giving the audience something to look forward to every weekend and spread joy to all the Filipinos around the world.

The program introduces a new musical segment, “Show Na Ni Juterte: Ang Pa-Concert ng Pangulo,” wherein President Rodney ‘Dugong’ Juterte (Jose Manalo) and General Ibato (Wally Bayola) bring their own hilarious take to popular Filipino folk and nursery songs with special guest Renz Verano.

My Love From The Star’s Jennylyn Mercado and Gil Cuerva will act in the special comedy sketch entitled “Balikbayan Bex.” It is a story of a squad (Wally Bayola, Andre Paras, Joey Paras, Jerald Napoles, and Kim Last) from an all-boys school who all turned out to be bekis and got the chance to be reunited at the wake of their former teacher. A biggest shock of their lives unfold as they meet the mysterious yet beautiful woman, Janice (Jennylyn). Turn to E3

Jose Manalo as President Rodney ‘Dugong’ Juterte